ATHITE  FOX 

AND 

ARCTIC  FRIENDS 


ROY  J.SNELL 


7x&«s 


YL-  t  •'' 


£. 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX 
AND  HIS  ARCTIC   FRIENDS 


"  Such  ugly  bent  noses  I  never  saw  before  in  all 
my  life,  either."     FRONTISPIECE.     See  Page  21 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX 
AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 


BY 
ROY  J.   SNELL 

WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS   BY 

GEORGE  F.  KERR 


BOSTON 

LITTLE,  BKOWN,   AND  COMPANY 
1916 


Copyright,  1916, 
BY  LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY. 


All  rights  reserved 
Published,  September,  1916 


CONTENTS 


I .  LITTLE  WHITE  Fox  MAKES  A  DISCOVERY  1 

II.  LITTLE  Miss  PTARMIGAN  FOOLS  HIM    .  9 

III.  HE  GETS  HIS  HEAD  THUMPED        .        .  19 

IV.  WHEN  LITTLE  FOXES  QUARREL      .        .  27 
V.  LITTLE    WHITE    Fox    MEETS    BARRED 

SEAL    .        .        ,       .. 

VI.  LITTLE  WHITE  Fox  HELPS  HIMSELF     . 

VII.  LITTLE     WHITE     BEAR     AND     LITTLE 

BLACK  BEAR 48 

VIII.  TROUBLE  FOR  LITTLE  WHITE  BEAR       .  54 

IX.  LITTLE  BLACK  BEAR'S  DISCOVERY          r  61 

X.  FUN  FOR  Two  LITTLE  BEARS         .        .  67 

XI.  BIG  WHITE  BEAR  MEETS  HUSKIE  .        .  74 

XII.  LITTLE  WHITE  Fox  GOES  HUNTING      .  83 

XIII.  BIG  WHITE  BEAR'S  KITCHEN  ...  89 

XIV.  BIG  WHITE  BEAR  FINDS  LITTLE  WHITE 

Fox      . 95 

XV.  LITTLE  WHITE  Fox  GOES  FISHING         .  101 

XVI.  LITTLE  BROWN  SEAL'S  NARROW  ESCAPE  108 

XVII.  A  STTRANGE  JOURNEY       ....  115 

XVIII.  LITTLE  WHITE  Fox  COMES  HOME  .  122 


2088236 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

"  Such  ugly,  bent  noses  I  never  saw 

before  in  all  my  life,  either  "     Frontispiece 

"  Now,"  he  said,  when  he  had  finished 

fishing,  "we  will  have  dinner"    PAGE    38 

Little  White  Bear  knew  right  away 

what  he  had  done     .         .  "       52 

"I  am  going  to  make  your  teeth 
chatter  so  you  can't  call  your 
master" "81 

Big  White  Bear  popped  right  up  out 

of  the  ocean!    .         .         .         .,      "     119 

She  was  going  back  to  his  own  dear 

beach  "     128 


vu 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

Six  of  the  Little  White  Fox  Stories  ap- 
peared serially  in  the  Continent,  to  whose 
publishers  my  thanks  are  due  for  permis- 
sion to  publish  them  in  book  form. 


IX 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS 
ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

CHAPTER  I 

LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  MAKES  A  DIS- 
COVERY 

LITTLE  WHITE  Fox  was  very,  very 
much  worried,  for  something  dreadful 
had  happened,  something  he  couldn't 
account  for  at  all:  Tdariuk,  the  reindeer, 
was  dead ! 

Tdariuk  was  not  related  to  Little 
White  Fox.  And  he  wasn't  a  bit  in  the 
world  like  him.  He  was  many  times 
1 


LITTLE   WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

bigger  than  Little  White  Fox  would 
ever  be,  and  he  was  quite  different 
from  him  in  every  way.  But  all  the 
same,  Little  White  Fox  loved  him.  If 
you  had  asked  him  why  he  loved  the 
big  reindeer,  he  would  probably  have 
told  you  that,  for  one  thing,  Tdariuk, 
in  spite  of  his  huge  body,  was  very 
gentle  and  kind.  None  of  the  little 
animals  of  the  tundra  was  afraid  of 
him.  Little  Mrs.  Ptarmigan  calmly 
hunted  for  dry  blueberries  and  weed 
seed  right  beside  him  while  he  cropped 
his  moss.  And  when  he  drew  close  to 
the  shore  by  the  sea,  Little  Brown  Seal 
never  thought  of  such  a  thing  as  slip- 
ping off  his  rock  and  hiding  in  the 
water.  Even  if  there  were  no  other 
2 


LITTLE    WHITE    FOX   MAKES   A   DISCOVERT 

reason,  wouldn't  Tdariuk's  gentleness  alone 
make  Little  White  Fox  love  him? 

Now  when  Little  White  Fox  discov- 
ered that  his  big,  kind  friend  was  dead, 
he  ran  home  as  fast  as  his  legs  could 
carry  him  to  tell  his  mother  the  sad 
news. 

"Mother!  Mother!"  he  called  tumbling 
into  his  home  under  the  great  rock, 
"Tdariuk  is  dead!" 

"Tdariuk  dead!"  cried  Madam  White 
Fox.  "Who  could  have  been  mean  enough 
to  kiU  him?" 

"I  don't  know  who  killed  him,  but  he's 
dead,  I  know  that,"  said  Little  White  Fox, 
the  tears  running  down  his  cheeks. 

"It    must    have    been    Old    Man    Gray 
Wolf,  or  Omnok,  the  hunter,"  said  Madam 
3 


LITTLE   WHITE   FOX   AND    HIS   ARCTIC    FRIENDS 

White  Fox,  wiping  her  eyes  with  her  paw. 
"For  my  part,  I  could  easily  wish  them  both 
dead  themselves.  None  of  us  is  safe  as 
long  as  they  are  about.  But  who  told  you 
Tdariuk  was  dead?" 

"No  one  told  me.  I  found  it  out  for  my- 
self," boasted  Little  White  Fox  proudly, 
quite  forgetting  his  sorrow  in  thinking 
what  a  wise  young  chap  he  was. 

"  You  found  it  out ! "  exclaimed  his  mother. 
"Pray,  tell  me  how?" 

"Why,  you  see,"  explained  Little  White 
Fox,  with  an  air  of  deep  mystery,  "I  was 
down  on  the  tundra,  at  the  foot  of  Saw 
Tooth  Mountain,  looking  all  around  to  see 
what  I  could  see.  And  all  of  a  sudden  I 
came  right  on  one  of  Tdariuk's  great,  fine 
antlers  lying  there  in  the  snow.  Now,  what 
4 


LITTLE   WHITE   FOX   MAKES   A   DISCOVERY 

do  you  think  of  that  ?  And  when  I  went  on 
a  little  farther,  there  was  the  other  one! 
And  then  I  knew,  of  course,  that  Tdariuk 
was  dead." 

When  Madam  White  Fox  heard  that,  she 
smiled  a  little  and  stopped  wiping  her  eyes. 
But  all  she  said  was :  "Keep  your  eyes  wide 
open,  my  son,  and  one  of  these  days  you  will 
see  something  very  strange." 
'.  Little  White  Fox  thought  that  a  queer  way 
to  answer  him.  Why,  she  hadn't  even  told 
him  he  was  smart  to  discover  about  Tdariuk. 

"What  do  you  mean,  mother?  What  will 
I  see  ?  Tell  me  what  I  will  see !  Please  tell 
me  what  I  will  see!"  teased  Little  White 
Fox. 

<    But  not   another   word   would   Madam 

Fox  tell  him.    Little  White  Fox  wondered 

5 


why  she  dried  her  tears  for  Tdariuk  so 
quickly,  but  he  couldn't  find  that  out,  either. 

And  so  every  day  and  all  day,  Little  White 
Fox  went  peering  curiously  about  every- 
where, just  as  his  mother  had  told  him  to  do, 
trying  to  find  the  something  that  was 
"very  strange."  He  looked  all  around 
among  the  sand  dunes  by  the  ocean,  but 
there  was  nothing  strange  there.  He  went 
in  and  out  among  the  big  rocks  at  the  foot 
of  Saw  Tooth  Mountain  and  came  near 
falling  into  one  of  Omnok's  cruel  traps,  but 
there  was  nothing  strange  there.  He  went 
here  and  there,  and  back  and  forth,  all  over 
the  tundra,  but  there  was  nothing  strange 
there. 

Hunt  7  as  he  would,  Little  White  Fox 
could  find  nothing  strange  anywhere.  He 
6 


LITTLE   WHITE   FOX   MAKES  A   DISCOVERY 

had  grown  quite  discouraged,  when  one 
day,  when  he  was  searching  down  among 
the  scrub  willows  by  the  river,  his  ear  caught 
a  familiar  sound,  "Ark!  Ark!  Ark!" 

Little  White  Fox  couldn't  believe  his  ears. 

"Why,  that's  queer!"  he  exclaimed.  "It 
sounds  just  like  Tdariuk,  the  reindeer. 
But  it  can't  be  Tdariuk.  How  could  it  be 
Tdariuk,  when  Tdariuk's  dead?" 

Then  he  heard  it  again,  much  louder  this 
time  and  quite  close:  "Ark!  Ark!  Ark!" 

Little  White  Fox,  for  once  in  his  life, 
was  too  astonished  to  say  a  word.  He  just 
held  his  breath  and  waited.  And  in  just 
another  moment  out  walked  Tdariuk,  as 
big  and  gentle  as  ever,  and  very  much  alive 
indeed.  And  —  on  his  head  he  wore  a  brand 
new  pair  of  antlers,  bigger  than  the  others 
7 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

and  all  covered  with  velvet !  My !  how 
handsome  those  antlers  were ! 

Little  White  Fox  didn't  stop  to  ask  a 
single  question.  He  just  gave  Tdariuk  one 
long  look  and  then  whirled  around  and  ran 
home  as  fast  as  he  could  travel. 

He  burst  breathlessly  into  the  cave  and 
started  to  tell  his  mother  that  Tdariuk 
wasn't  dead.  But  it  wasn't  news  to  her; 
she  had  known  it  all  the  time.  Little  White 
Fox,  however,  had  found  out  the  something 
very  strange  that  she  had  hoped  he  would 
find,  and  had  done  it  all  by  himself.  There- 
fore Madam  Fox  was  very  happy  as  she 
curled  down  on  the  floor  for  her  afternoon 
nap. 


8 


CHAPTER  II 
LITTLE  MISS   PTARMIGAN   FOOLS   HIM 

WHEN  Little  White  Fox  saw  that  he  had 
really  found  out  about  Tdariuk,  the  reindeer, 
all  by  himself,  he  became  very  wise.  The 
next  time  one  of  his  friends  disappeared 
from  the  tundra,  he  didn't  say  a  word  about 
it  to  his  mother,  but  went  searching,  search- 
ing, everywhere,  every  day. 

This  time  it  was  Little  Miss  Ptarmigan 
who  had  disappeared.  Probably  you  don't 
know  Miss  Ptarmigan,  for  she  lives  only 
in  cold  lands  where  there  is  plenty  of  snow. 
But  she  is  a  very  interesting  young  person. 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

She  is  a  bit  larger  than  Madam  Partridge 
and  not  quite  so  large  as  Madam  Prairie 
Hen.  And  a  very  dainty  little  lady  she  is, 
too,  for  all  winter  —  and  that's  just  the  time 
Little  White  Fox  had  known  her  —  she  had 
worn  a  perfectly  white  gown,  quite  as  white 
as  the  coat  he  wore  himself.  And  if  she 
hadn't  worn  pink  shoes  and  stockings,  he 
probably  would  never  have  been  able  to  find 
her  in  the  snow  at  all. 

Now,  if  Little  White  Fox  had  been  as  old 
as  his  mother,  he  would  have  been  trying 
all  the  time  to  catch  Little  Miss  Ptarmigan 
and  carry  her  off  to  his  home  for  mincemeat. 
That  is  what  grown-up  foxes  do  to  the  Ptar- 
migan folks  when  they  get  a  chance.  But 
Little  White  Fox  was  a  very  small  chap,  and 
didn't  give  much  thought  to  mincemeat. 
10 


LITTLE  MISS   PTAEMIGAN   FOOLS  HIM 

_ 

All  he  thought  about  was  having  a  good  time, 
so  almost  every  day  he  hunted  up  Miss 
Ptarmigan,  and  they  had  a  grand  game  of 
hide  and  seek.  It  was  always  an  exciting 
game,  too,  on  account  of  Miss  Ptarmigan's 
white  dress,  and  the  only  way  Little  White 
Fox  could  find  her  was  by  watching  for  her 
pink  shoes  and  stockings  as  she  hid  away 
in  a  snow  bank.  And  when  she  sat  on  her 
feet,  he  could  almost  never  find  her  at  all. 

"You  just  wait,  Miss,"  cried  Little  White 
Fox  one  day.  "When  summer  comes,  I'll 
get  you!" 

"You  will,  will  you!"  replied  Miss  Ptar- 
migan. "How  will  you  do  it?" 

"Why,  in  the  summer  the  snow  will  be 
gone,  and  the  ground  will  be  all  brown. 
Then  I  will  be  able  to  find  you  anywhere  \'\ 
11 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

Little  White  Fox  gave  a  hop,  skip  and  jump 
that  ended  in  a  somersault,  so  tickled  was  he 
with  his  own  smartness. 
1    "Oh,  indeed !"  said  Miss  Ptarmigan,  look- 
ing very  wise  and  mysterious. 

That  was  all  she  said,  but  Little  White 
Fox  wasn't  fussed.  He  hadn't  lain  curled 
up  on  the  grass  mat  in  his  home  thinking 
about  it  night  after  night  for  nothing. 

One  day  when  the  snow  was  nearly  all 
gone,  Little  Miss  Ptarmigan  suddenly  dis- 
appeared. Little  White  Fox  didn't  believe 
she  was  dead.  He  remembered  how  he  had 
been  fooled  by  Tdariuk,  and  he  remembered, 
too,  how  she  had  looked  when  he  talked 
about  catching  her.  Also,  he  remembered 
how  he  had  found  out  the  truth  about 
Tdariuk.  Therefore,  being  a  wise  youngster, 
12 


LITTLE  MISS  PTARMIGAN  FOOLS  HIM 

as  I  have  said,  he  didn't  say  a  word  about  it 
to  his  mother.  He  just  went  quietly  about, 
looking,  looking  everywhere  for  Miss  Ptar- 
migan. 

In  the  meantime,  Miss  Ptarmigan  had 
been  making  trouble  for  herself.  Silly  old 
Mrs.  White  Owl  had  been  telling  her  all 
winter  how  very  well  white  suited  her  com- 
plexion. And  now  summer  had  come,  and 
Mother  Ptarmigan  had  forbidden  her  to  go 
outdoors  at  all  till  her  new  brown  summer 
suit  was  finished.  Miss  Ptarmigan  hated 
indoors,  and  she  couldn't  understand  what 
difference  her  dress  made,  anyway.  But 
she  never  thought  of  disobeying  till  one  fine, 
warm  day  when  her  mother  was  away  from 
home,  Little  Miss  Ptarmigan  grew  very 
lonesome. 

13 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

"I  want  to  go  out  in  the  sunshine/7  she 
kept  saying  to  herself.  "There  can't  be  a 
bit  of  harm  in  it.  I  am  sure  I  would  see 
Old  Mrs.  White  Owl,  and  she  would  say 
something  nice  about  my  white  dress." 

Down  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  was 
some  one  else,  a  some  one  who  didn't 
think  much  about  the  sunshine  and  the 
flowers.  It  was  Master  Black  Fox.  He 
was  thinking  of  his  sausage  grinder.  It 
hadn't  been  used  much  of  late,  and  he  was 
afraid  it  might  get  lazy.  "A  plump  chub 
of  a  Ptarmigan  would  grind  nicely,"  he  said 
to  himself,  smacking  his  lips,  "but  they  all 
wear  brown  dresses  these  days,  and  one 
cannot  tell  them  from  the  weeds  and  grass." 

Just  then  his  eyes  opened  wide.  "Can  I 
believe  it?"  he  whispered.  "Is  that  one  of 
14 


LITTLE  MISS  PTARMIGAN  FOOLS  HIM 

them  going  down  the  mountain  this  minute 
—  and  with  a  white  dress  on?  Yes,  sir,  it 
is!" 

Then  Mr.  Fox  looked  all  about  him  very 
sharply,  this  way  and  that,  for  his  own 
coat  was  black  as  coal,  and  could  be  seen 
quite  well  against  the  brown  grass  when  he 
moved.  But  when  he  lay  quite  still,  you 
couldn't  tell  him  from  a  stone.  He  was  not 
afraid  that  Little  Miss  Ptarmigan  would  see 
him.  He  knew  where  she  was,  and  could 
hide  behind  rocks  until  he  came  close  to 
her. 

After  Mr.  Fox  had  looked  all  about  him 
very  sharply,  this  way  and  that,  he  began 
to  creep  around  this  rock  and  that  one,  all 
the  time  drawing  closer  to  innocent,  foolish 
Little  Miss  Ptarmigan,  whose  white  dress 
15 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  AECTIC  FRIENDS 

showed  plain  as  day  against  the  brown 
earth.  And  presently  he  was  right  behind 
a  big  rock  she  must  pass  in  just  another 
minute.  And  then  he  was  so  close  that  it 
seemed  almost  as  if  she  could  hear  him 
breathe. 

But  she  didn't.  She  just  walked  along, 
thinking  about  the  fine  things  Madam  White 
Owl  had  said  to  her,  till  zing!  something 
sprang  at  her.  She  gave  a  frightened  scream 
and  flew  to  one  side,  but  she  was  too  late. 
Something  sharp  and  cruel  closed  down  on 
the  toe  of  her  pink  shoes.  It  was  the  teeth 
of  Mr.  Black  Fox's  sausage  grinder.  But  he 
closed  them  down  a  little  too  hard,  for  it  cut 
the  toe  right  off  the  pink  shoe,  and  the  tips 
of  Little  Miss  Ptarmigan's  pink  toes  besides, 
and  away  she  flew,  screaming  with  pain, 
16 


LITTLE  MISS  PTARMIGAN  FOOLS  HIM 

toward  a  white  snow  bank  in  the  valley. 
There  each  little  hurt  toe  left  a  red  spot 
on  the  white  snow,  and  my,  how  they  did 
ache! 

One  day  quite  a  while  later,  when  Little 
White  Fox  was  over  among  the  brown  rocks 
at  the  foot  of  Saw  Tooth  Mountain,  he  heard 
a  scratch,  scratch!  among  the  dry  grasses 
behind  him.  He  turned  around,  and  there 
stood  a  little  stranger  dressed  all  in  brown. 
She  looked  wonderfully  like  Miss  Ptarmigan. 
She  was  just  about  the  same  size,  and  her 
shoes  and  stockings  were  just  the  same  shade 
of  pink. 

"Hello,   Little  White   Fox!"   she   cried. 

"  I  thought  you  said  you  could  find  me  when 

summer  came  and  the  ground  was  all  brown. 

You  have  been  looking  for  me  a  whole  week, 

17 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

and  I  have  been  out  here  all  the  time.  You 
saw  me  yesterday,  but  you  didn't  know  me, 
because  I  had  put  on  my  summer  clothes. 
Oh,  Little  White  Fox,  you  are  a  very  wise 
fellow !  A  very  wise  fellow,  indeed !" 

It  was  Miss  Ptarmigan.    She  had  changed 
her  white  gown  for  a  brown  one ! 


18 


CHAPTER  III 
HE  GETS  HIS  HEAD  THUMPED 

"WHO  put  all  those  rocks  there,  I 
wonder?"  mused  Little  White  Fox,  scratch- 
ing his  head  and  looking  puzzled.  "  They  are 
white  and  all  the  same  size.  How  queer!" 

Little  White  Fox  had  climbed  almost  to 
the  top  of  Cape  Prince  of  Wales  Mountain. 
He  had  crept  around  among  the  rocks  until 
he  was  way  out  on  a  ledge  looking  out  over 
the  great  blue  sea.  And  here  he  had  found 
these  strange  rocks,  all  gathered  in  one  little 
pile  by  themselves.  As  he  looked  around, 
he  presently  saw  more  piles  here  and  there, 
19 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

and  all  just  the  same  size.  "Now,  what  do 
you  think  of  that!"  he  said  to  himself, 
scratching  his  head  again,  and  more  puzzled 
than  ever. 

He  was  still  rubbing  his  head  thought- 
fully, when  a  sound  behind  him  made  him 
look  around,  and  his  bright  eyes  fell  on  a 
group  of  the  strangest  little  people  any  small 
fox  ever  came  across.  There  were  seven 
of  them.  They  all  stood  in  a  row,  and  each 
was  as  straight  up  and  down  as  the  big 
whalebone  over  the  grave  Omnok,  the  hunter, 
had  made  for  his  father.  Little  White 
Fox  had  seen  some  of  these  strange  folks 
when  he  was  with  his  mother  a  few  days 
before.  She  had  told  him  that  they  belonged 
to  the  Sea  Parrot  family.  "There  is  a  very 
large  family  of  them,"  she  had  said.  "  They 
20 


HE   GETS  HIS  HEAD  THUMPED 

live  almost  anywhere  on  the  ocean  most  of 
the  year,  but  they  make  Alaskaltheir  summer 
home." 

These  seven  little  black  sea  parrots  all 
stood  up  stiffly  in  a  row,  and  not  one  word 
did  they  say,  either  to  Little  White  Fox 
or  to  one  another.  But  Little  White  Fox 
felt  that  they  were  looking  at  him,  and  he 
didn't  like  it  a  bit.  "What  business  is  it 
of  theirs  if  I  walk  around  here  and  see  what 
I  can  see?"  he  thought  to  himself.  "They 
are  very  ugly  little  people,  anyway.  Look 
at  their  faces !  They  are  nearly  all  nose ! 
And  such  ugly,  bent  noses  I  never  saw  before 
in  all  my  life,  either ! " 

Just  then  a  strange,  pleasing  smell  came 
to  Little  White  Fox's  quivering  nostrils. 
Could  it  come  from  those  strange,  round 
21 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

rocks?  He  would  see.  He  walked  up  to 
one  of  the  piles,  and,  putting  his  nose  down 
close,  gave  a  big,  long  sniff.  Yes,  sir,  that's 
just  where  it  did  come  from !  "  How  queer ! " 
thought  he.  "I  never  saw  such  rocks  be- 
fore. Guess  I'll  push  one  of  them  around  and 
see  what  will  happen."  At  that,  he  stretched 
out  one  of  his  front  paws,  and  began  to  roll 
one  of  the  rocks  about.  Bing !  something 
struck  him  an  awful  blow  right  on  the  top  of 
his  head. 

"Ouch!  What  was  that!"  cried  Little 
White  Fox,  peering  about  and  rubbing  his 
head. 

The  seven  strangers  were  standing  still 
stiff  in  a  straight  row.  Not  a  word  did  they 
say,  but  they  had  moved  quite  a  bit  closer  to 
Little  White  Fox. 

22 


HE  GETS  HIS  HEAD  THUMPED 

"  I  wonder/'  said  Little  White  Fox.  Then 
he  began  to  roll  the  rock  again.  Bing! 
something  struck  his  head,  harder  than 
before.  Little  White  Fox  whirled  about 
quickly  this  time.  One  of  the  strangers 
was  straightening  up. 

"What  has  she  been  doing?"  he  said  to 
himself.  "I  shouldn't  wonder  if  she  had 
been  hitting  me  with  her  ugly  face.  I 
have  a  great  mind  to  bite  her !  What  busi- 
ness is  it  of  hers  if  I  come  up  here  and  roll 
these  little  stones  around?  Don't  all  the 
stones  in  the  world  belong  to  anybody  who 
wants  them?" 

'  He  gave  the  rock  a  vigorous  push  this 
time.  It  rolled  over  a  small  ledge,  gave  a 
little  squash!  and  broke  in  two  in  the 
middle.  Little  White  Fox  could  hardly 
23 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FKIENDS 

believe  his  eyes  when  he  saw  the  inside  of 
the  stone  spread  out  on  the  ground,  all 
yellow  and  white!  And  ah-ne-ca!  how 
strong  it  smelled !  But  the  smell  was  the 
most  delicious  that  Little  White  Fox  had 
ever  sniffed. 

"I'll  just  taste  some  of  that  good  smelling 
stuff/'  said  Little  White  Fox  happily,  and 
was  about  to  poke  his  small  nose  right  into 
it,  when  ouch !  something  hit  him  a  terrible 
whack  right  on  the  top  of  his  head.  My, 
how  it  hurt !  It  made  his  head  ache  so  he 
could  hardly  think  straight.  And  this  time 
he  knew  who  had  done  it.  It  was  one  of 
those  ugly  Parrot  people. 

"Now,  I  will  bite  her !"  cried  Little  White 
Fox,  and  straight  at  that  stiff  row  he  dashed. 
And  then  at  last  the  strangers  found  their 
24 


HE   GETS  HIS   HEAD  THUMPED 

tongues.  Such  a  screaming  and  chattering 
Little  White  Fox  had  never  heard  before. 
But  he  found  he  couldn't  bite  them,  after 
all,  for  every  time  he  jumped  at  one  of  them, 
she  leaped  right  over  his  head  and  hit  him 
with  her  ugly  face.  So  by  and  by  Little 
White  Fox  was  glad  to  run  away  home  and 
leave  the  strange  rocks  to  the  ugly  little 
people  who  were  so  savage  and  so  bold. 

Mother  White  Fox  laughed  and  laughed 
when  she  heard  of  her  son's  strange  adven- 
ture. 

"But,  mother,"  said  Little  White  Fox, 
looking  very  much  puzzled,  "What  did 
they  care  about  those  old  rocks  ?  " 

"Care,  child!"  cried  his  mother,  holding 
her  sides,  "those  things  were  not  rocks ;  they 
were  their  eggs.  And  the  ledge  you  were  on 
25 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

was  their  home.  By  and  by  those  eggs  will 
turn  into  little  Sea  Parrots,  and  when  their 
wings  and  feet  are  strong,  the  babies  will  go 
swimming  and  flying  out  over  the  shining 
sea." 

Little  White  Fox  was  far  too  young  to 
understand  all  this,  but  he  could  understand 
how  his  head  had  been  thumped.  So  you 
may  be  sure  it  was  a  long,  long  time  before 
he  went  back  to  that  cliff.  When  he  did  so, 
the  Sea  Parrots  were  all  gone,  and  so  were 
the  strange  things  he  had  thought  were 
rocks. 


26 


CHAPTER  IV 
WHEN  LITTLE  FOXES  QUARREL 

THERE  apparently  were  more  little  Foxes 
together  on  the  tundra  that  afternoon 
than  there  ever  had  been  before.  Little 
White  Fox  had  just  come  around  a  bunch 
of  muckluck  grass  and  spied  them,  all  very 
much  interested  in  something  they  had  found. 

"Ha!  Ha!"  chuckled  Little  White  Fox 
to  himself.  "They'll  get  their  heads  pecked 
good  and  hard  pretty  soon!"  For  those 
little  Foxes  there  on  the  tundra  had  found 
some  of  those  same  round  objects  that  Little 
White  Fox  had  thought  were  stones  and 
27. 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

later  learned  were  eggs.  The  only  differ- 
ence was  that  these  were  much  larger  and 
were  out  on  the  tundra  near  one  of  the  salt 
ponds. 

The  young  Foxes  had  been  playing  happily 
together  when  they  found  the  eggs.  There 
were  the  Silver  Fox  twins,  the  Black  Fox 
triplets,  Reynard  Red  Fox,  Violet  Blue  Fox, 
and  Baby  Cross  Fox.  Rather  a  large  gather- 
ing of  Foxes,  I  admit,  but  there  are  more  of 
the  Fox  family  in  Alaska  than  in  any  other 
part  of  the  world. 

Little  White  Fox  slipped  behind  the 
muckluck  grass  and  listened.  His  relatives 
were  quarrelling  over  who  should  have  the 
extra  egg.  You  see  here  were  eight  little 
Foxes  and  nine  eggs,  so  the  question  was 
who  should  take  the  extra  egg  ? 
28 


WHEN   LITTLE   FOXES  QUARREL 

"We  should  have  the  egg,"  said  the  Silver 
Fox  twins  boastfully,  "because  we  belong 
to  the  most  aristocratic  branch  of  the  family. 
Our  mother's  coat  alone  is  worth  three  hun- 
dred dollars." 

"You  have  no  more  right  to  hold  up  your 
heads  than  we  have,"  one  of  the  Black  Fox 
triplets  answered  him.  "Our  mother's  coat 
is  worth  quite  as  much  as  any  Silver  Fox's 
that  ever  lived." 

"Fie!  Fie!  you  are  both  wrong,"  re- 
proved Reynard  Red  Fox.  "  The  best  known 
should  always  be  considered  first.  Now 
my  father  is  known  all  over  the  world. 
Whole  books  have  been  written  about  our 
family." 

"I  should  have  it,  because  I  am  a  baby," 
wailed  Baby  Cross  Fox. 
29 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

"I'd  like  to  see  any  of  you  get  it,"  cried 
Violet  Blue  Fox,  seizing  the  egg  and  at- 
tempting to  carry  it  away.  But  the 
greedy  miss,  while  trying  to  carry  it,  let 
go  of  the  one  she  already  had,  so  she  was 
not  a  whit  ahead. 

The  fact  of  the  matter  was  that  one  of  those 
eggs  was  all  any  little  Fox  could  carry,  and 
it  certainly  was  all  he  could  possibly  eat. 
But  of  course  not  one  of  them  had  thought 
about  that. 

Now  Little  White  Fox  had  lain  hid  behind 
the  muckluck  grass  nearly  splitting  himself 
with  laughter  at  the  thought  of  the  whacking 
their  heads  were  going  to  get  after  awhile. 
But  when  he  had  waited  a  long  time  and 
no  one  had  come  to  molest  his  cousins,  he 
began  to  want  one  of  those  eggs  for  himself. 
30 


WHEN  LITTLE   FOXES  QUARREL 

It  happened  that  this  was  the  nest  of  Old 
Mrs.  Long  Neck,  the  widgeon  duck.  And 
Omnok,  the  hunter,  had  captured  her  two 
days  before,  so  she  would  never  come  back 
to  protect  her  eggs. 

Little  White  Fox  stood  it  as  long  as  he 
could,  and  then  he  came  marching  boldly 
out  from  his  hiding  place. 

"If  you  don't  mind,"  he  said  very  impor- 
tantly, "I'll  take  the  extra  egg,  and  that 
will  settle  the  difficulty." 

But  that  only  started  the  discussion  going 
faster  than  ever.  "You  didn't!"  "I  did!" 
"You  can't!"  "lean!"  "I  will!"  "You 
won't!"  and  so  on  and  so  on  they  went. 
Probably  they  would  be  quarrelling  yet,  if 
Little  White  Fox  had  not  caught  sight  of  a 
very  tall  person  coming  through  the  muck- 
31 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

luck  grass.  It  was  the  dreadful  Omnok, 
the  hunter ! 

"Look  out!"  he  cried. 

But  he  was  too  late.  Bang!  went  the 
hunter's  terrible  gun,  and  a  hot  bullet 
whizzed  by  his  ear.  The  Foxes  scattered 
in  every  direction,  Little  White  Fox  making 
for  his  home  as  fast  as  his  legs  would  carry 
him.  And  his  heart  beat  so  fast  that  even 
when  he  had  been  for  half  an  hour  safe 
under  the  big  flat  rock,  his  breath  still  came 
pantingly. 

"Ah-ne-ca!"  cried  Omnok,  out  on  the 
tundra.  "What  did  I  shoot  at  them  for? 
Their  coats  are  not  worth  a  penny  till  old 
winter  gets  at  them  and  makes  them  thick 
and  strong.  My,  but  they  were  a  fine 
bunch!  If  I  can  catch  half  of  them  next 
32 


WHEN  LITTLE  FOXES  QUARREL 

winter,  I  can  buy  a  whole  herd  of  reindeer 
and  become  a  reindeer  man.  But  what  have 
we  here?  Ho-ho!  So  this  is  what  they 
were  making  such  a  fuss  about !  Old  Long 
Neck's  nest !  Well,  I  guess  nine  good  eggs 
will  be  fine  eating  for  my  wife  and  the  chil- 
dren." 

;  With  that  Omnok  put  the  eggs  in  his 
hunting  sack  and  went  stalking  away. 


33 


CHAPTER  V 

LITTLE    WHITE    FOX    MEETS    BARRED 
SEAL 

LITTLE  WHITE  Fox  was  running  all  over 
the  ice  that  covered  the  ocean.  It  was 
spring,  and  the  sun  was  shining  its  best  all 
the  time,  but  there  was  plenty  of  ice  left. 
When  there  is  two  miles  of  ice  out  on  the 
sand  bar,  and  it  is  all  six  feet  thick,  you  may 
easily  guess  it  takes  the  sun  a  long  time  to 
loosen  it  up. 

Well,  Little  White  Fox  was  skipping 
about  here  and  there  to  see  what  he  could 
see,  and  was  not  paying  much  attention 
34 


LITTLE   WHITE   FOX   MEETS   BARRED   SEAL 

where  he  was  going  when,  Ah-ne-ca !  down 
he  went !  Down !  Down !  and  splash ! 
right  into  the  icy  water!  My!  he  was 
frightened!  How  was  he  ever  to  get  out 
of  that  place?  Six  feet  of  ice  wall,  straight 
as  the  sides  of  a  house,  was  all  about  him. 
But  what  was  this  he  saw  on  one  side.  It 
seemed  to  be  a  sort  of  little  shelf.  And, 
yes  sir!  as  Little  White  Fox  swam  over  to 
that  side  and  began  to  climb  up,  his  feet 
caught  on  a  ledge,  and  before  he  knew  it  he 
was  sitting  in  as  neat  a  little  room  as  you 
ever  saw,  and  all  made  out  of  ice !  walls, 
floor,  and  ceiling! 

"  Now  I  wonder  who  lives  here,"  said  Little 
White  Fox  to  himself.     "Whoever  it  is,  I 
suppose  I  shall  have  a  great  quarrel  with 
him  when  he  comes  home." 
35 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

I  But  no  one  came,  and  very  soon  his  coat 
was  quite  dry  and  he  found  himself  very 
comfortable  in  this  strange  little  ice  palace. 
But  how  was  he  ever  to  get  out  and  go  back 
to  his  mother  and  friends? 

Just  when  he  was  thinking  about  that,  he 
saw  the  water  get  black  all  at  once,  and  in 
another  moment  he  was  looking  right  into 
the  face  of  a  stranger  who  had  popped  up 
out  of  the  water,  as  if  by  magic. 

"Who  are  you?"  asked  Little  White  Fox, 
shaking  all  over  with  fright. 

"I  have  many  names."  The  stranger 
grinned  so  broadly  Little  White  Fox  quite 
lost  his  fear  at  once.  "Some  call  me  Barred 
Seal,"  the  stranger  continued,  "and  some 
call  me  Ring  Seal.  Others  call  me  Rainbow 
Seal,  and  still  others  call  me  Northern  Lights. 
36 


LITTLE   WHITE   FOX  MEETS  BARRED   SEAL 

You  may  call  me  what  you  like.  But  say, 
there's  room  for  us  both  up  there,  isn't 
there?  I  am  tired!" 

"But,"  said  Little  White  Fox,  when  they 
were  both  comfortably  seated,  "you  look 
very  much  like  Little  Brown  Seal." 

"Yes,"  said  the  other,  "he  is  my  cousin, 
so  is  Spotted  Seal  and  Oogrook,  the  big  seal, 
and  Little  Light  Brown  Seal,  and  goodness 
knows  how  many  more !  We  are  a  large 
family.  I  am  told  that  we  have  cousins 
living  down  in  the  Aleutian  Islands  who  are 
very  aristocratic  indeed.  They  go  by  the 
name  of  Hair  Seal.  Why,  their  coats,  I 
am  told,  are  so  valuable  that  Omnok,  the 
hunter,  would  risk  his  life  to  get  one  of  them  ! 
For  my  part,  I  prefer  this  simple  coat 
which  no  man  would  steal,  unless  he  needed 
37 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

it  to  make  a  pair  of  boots.    But  you  must  be 
hungry,  and  so  am  I.    Just  wait  a  minute." 

Master  Barred  Seal  disappeared  in  the 
water,  reappearing  from  time  to  time  with 
a  fish  in  his  mouth. 

"Now,"  he  said,  when  he  had  finished 
fishing,  "we  will  have  dinner."  Before 
Little  White  Fox  was  spread  the  most  tempt- 
ing array  of  fish  he  had  ever  seen. 

"This  is  the  finest  home  in  the  world," 
said  Barred  Seal  proudly.  "Your  dinner 
comes  right  to  your  front  door.  Look!" 

Little  White  Fox  looked,  and  sure  enough, 
there  in  the  water  were  plenty  more  fish 
swimming  round  and  round. 

"But  what  if  Omnok,  the  hunter,  should 
find  us  here?"  Little  White  Fox  shivered 
suddenly. 

38 


"  Now,"  he  said,  when  he  had  finished  fishing, 
"we  will  have  dinner."     Page  38 


LITTLE   WHITE  FOX  MEETS  BARKED   SEAL 

"What  if  he  should?"  repeated  the  other. 
"There  are  four  feet  of  solid  ice  between  us 
and  the  top.  He  will  not  come  down  in  the 
water  to  get  us,  so  what  could  he  do?" 

"But  very  soon,  Mother  tells  me,"  said 
Little  White  Fox,  "the  ice  will  all  melt,  or 
the  wind  will  blow  it  out  to  sea." 

"Oh,  well,  in  that  case,"  replied  Barred 
Seal,  smiling,  "there  is  still  the  wild,  free 
ocean  to  live  in  as  always." 

"Not  for  me!"  said  Little  White  Fox, 
turning  white  in  the  face  and  losing  his  appe- 
tite all  at  once.  "How  can  I  get  out  of 
here?" 

"You  don't  want  to  go  so  soon,"  answered 
Barred   Seal.    "Stay   with   me   awhile.    I 
rather  like  you.    And,  as  you  see,  we  have 
plenty  of  good  fish  to  eat." 
39 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

"I  thank  you,"  said  Little  White  Fox 
very  politely,  "but  I'd  very  much  rather 
go  back  home."  And  at  that  moment  he 
had  a  frightful  vision  of  all  that  ice  going 
out,  out  to  sea. 

"Very  well,"  said  Barred  Seal,  "111  go 
in  the  water  and  stand  on  my  tail ;  then  you 
can  climb  out  on  my  back.  Only  don't 
dig  in  your  toe  nails." 

In  another  moment  Little  White  Fox  was 
out  in  the  bright  sunshine,  and  you  may  be 
very  sure  he  was  glad  to  be  there.  "I 
guess  the  world  was  made  about  right," 
he  said  to  himself.  "And  I  am  glad  the 
hills,  the  tundra,  and  my  own  little  home 
are  just  as  they  are,  and  I  am  glad  I  am 
Little  White  Fox." 


CHAPTER  VI 
LITTLE    WHITE    FOX    HELPS    HIMSELF 

LITTLE  WHITE  Fox  was  hungry  again, 
and  it  was  the  hard,  cold,  winter  time,  when 
all  of  the  little  folks  of  the  tundra  have  to 
hunt  far  and  wide  for  food.  He  had  asked 
Tdariuk,  the  reindeer,  to  invite  him  out  to 
dinner.  Tdariuk  was  very  nice  about  it,  but 
said  he  had  only  some  lichens,  which  men 
call  reindeer  moss,  to  eat.  When  Little 
White  Fox  tasted  them,  he  said  they  were 
not  one  bit  good.  The  truth  is  they  are 
very  bitter,  and  taste  good  only  to  Reindeer 
and  Caribou  folks. 

41 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

So  Little  White  Fox  went  scratching  away 
over  the  tundra  and  hillsides  to  see  what  he 
could  find.  He  was  half  way  up  the  side  of 
Cape  Prince  of  Wales  Mountain  when  he 
came  on  the  tracks  of  a  stranger.  "He 
must  have  come  down  from  the  higher 
mountains,"  said  Little  White  Fox  to  him- 
self. "I  wonder  who  he  is.  I  don't 
believe  he  is  any  bigger  than  I  am,  for  his 
tracks  are  very  close  together." 

He  followed  the  tracks,  very  curious  to 
know  who  this  newcomer  might  be.  Pretty 
soon  he  came  to  a  tunnel  right  into  the  snow. 
There  were  several  tracks  in  and  out  of 
this,  so  he  could  not  tell  whether  the 
stranger  were  at  home  or  not.  Little  White 
Fox  knew  now  that  the  other  fellow  was  not 
so  large  as  he,  for  the  tunnel  was  almost  too 
42 


LITTLE   WHITE   FOX  HELPS  HIMSELF 

small  for  him  to  enter.  But  he  gathered 
his  coat  close  around  him  and  crowded  in. 
He  rather  hoped  that  he  would  not  find 
the  stranger  at  home,  but  that  the  table 
would  be  set  for  dinner. 

And  that  was  just  the  way  it  was !  Little 
White  Fox  knocked  at  the  door,  and  when 
no  one  answered,  he  walked  right  in.  No,  — 
the  table  wasn't  set,  but  in  the  storeroom 
there  was  plenty  of  food.  Little  White  Fox 
did  not  make  the  least  fuss  but  set  the  table 
himself. 

Now  you  might  think  that  Little  White 
Fox  would  eat  only  fresh  eggs  and  fish, 
but  if  you  think  so  you  are  mistaken.  He 
likes  berries  and  roots,  and  that  is  just 
what  he  had  to  eat  that  day,  —  blueberries 
from  the  hillsides  and  nice  juicy  roots  and 
43 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

bulbs  from  the  tundra!  My,  they  tasted 
good! 

He  had  just  finished  eating  when  some- 
thing disturbed  him.  He  had  been  listen- 
ing to  the  noise  the  wind  made  blowing 
across  the  entrance  to  the  tunnel.  Now 
the  wind  didn't  make  any  more  noise,  — 
not  so  he  could  hear  it,  anyway.  That 
meant  that  some  one  had  entered  the  tunnel. 

Now  Little  White  Fox  was  not  wishing  to 
see  any  one  just  then.  "Guess  I'd  better 
find  the  other  door  to  this  house  and  go 
home,"  he  said  to  himself.  But  there  wasn't 
any  other  door.  Little  White  Fox  wasn't 
afraid,  but  then,  —  he  just  humped  him- 
self all  up  in  a  corner  and  wished  he  didn't 
have  to  meet  the  stranger,  that  was  all. 

Well,  sir!  he  had  to  laugh  when  he  saw 
44 


s 
LITTLE   WHITE   FOX  HELPS  HIMSELF 

the  stranger  come  in  at  the  door.  He  was 
the  oddest  little  fellow  you  ever  saw!  He 
looked  just  like  Thunder,  the  big  white 
rabbit,  only  his  ears  were  short,  his  coat 
was  yellow,  and  he  was  ever  so  much  smaller. 
Little  White  Fox  knew  who  he  was  right 
away,  for  he  had  heard  his  mother  speak  of 
the  Lemming  family.  And  this  was  one  of 
the  Lemmings !  There  could  be  no  doubt  of 
it.  And  the  Lemmings  are  great  fighters, 
if  they  happen  to  be  in  the  mood  for  it. 
Why,  they  have  been  known  to  jump  right 
into  the  ocean  and  try  to  swim  across  it. 

"Now  I  wonder  what  I'd  better  do," 
thought  Little  White  Fox  to  himself.  But 
just  because  he  couldn't  think  of  anything  at 
all  to  do,  he  did  nothing.  And  that  was  the 
very  wisest  way  to  behave  just  then.  All 
45 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

bunched  up  the  way  he  was,  he  looked  very 
large  and  strong.  The  longer  Mr.  Lemming 
looked  at  him,  the  more  sure  he  became  that 
Little  White  Fox  was  some  relation  of  his. 
And  we  must  be  very  kind  to  all  our  relatives, 
especially  when  they  are  bigger  than  we  are ! 

Mr.  Lemming  moved  over  to  one  side  of 
the  room  as  if  to  say,  "You  may  go  out  if 
you  like." 

Little  White  Fox  moved  half  way  to  the 
door  and  then  stopped,  which  meant,  "I'd 
like  you  to  move  a  little  farther  away." 

Mr.  Lemming  went  back  to  the  other  side. 

Little  White  Fox  went  to  the  door,  but 
even  then  he  did  not  go  out,  not  right  away, 
he  didn't.  He  turned  and  looked  at  Mr. 
Lemming,  which  meant,  "You  won't  bite 
my  heels,  will  you?" 
46 


LITTLE   WHITE   FOX  HELPS  HIMSELF 

Mr.  Lemming  didn't  make  a  move. 

Little  White  Fox  put  his  head  out  of  the 
door.  Then  you  should  have  seen  him  get 
out  of  that  tunnel!  I  don't  believe  Little 
White  Fox  ever  went  faster  in  the  world. 
When  he  was  out  on  the  snow,  he  looked 
around  and  felt  foolish,  for  Mr.  Lemming 
was  not  coming  after  him  at  all. 

That  night  Mr.  Lemming  closed  up  the 
tunnel  to  his  house  and  made  a  new  one 
under  a  rock,  where  he  thought  Little  White 
Fox  would  not  be  able  to  find  it. 

Of  course  Little  White  Fox  should  have 
waited  until  Mr.  Lemming  came  home,  and 
then  asked  him  for  something  to  eat.  But, 
you  know,  he  was  very  hungry,  and  besides 
he  was  only  a  little  white  fox,  after  all. 


47 


CHAPTER  VII 

LITTLE  WHITE  BEAR  AND  LITTLE 
BLACK  BEAR 

LITTLE  WHITE  BEAR  stepped  out  from 
behind  a  great  boulder  that  was  black  as 
black  could  be  against  the  whitest  of  all 
white  worlds.  And  my !  It  was  a  lonesome 
world!  His  mother  had  left  him  alone, 
years  and  years  ago,  it  seemed  to  him,  to 
find  something  to  eat.  At  last  he  was  so 
lonesome  he  just  had  to  get  out  into  the  sun- 
shine and  see  if  there  was  any  one  in  all 
the  wide,  white  world  who  would  play  with 
a  little  white  bear. 

48 


LITTLE  WHITE  BEAR  AND  LITTLE  BLACK  BEAR 

"I  wonder!  I  do  wonder  if  there  is  any 
one!"  he  said  to  himself. 

"Chee!  Chee!"  said  a  very  small  voice 
right  close  to  him.  He  looked  and  looked, 
and  at  last  he  spied  Little  Snow  Bunting 
balancing  herself  on  a  salmon-berry  bush. 

"What  does  she  mean  by  that?"  thought 
Little  White  Bear.  "  Does  she  want  to  play 
with  me  ?  "  But  when  he  came  closer  to  her, 
she  said  "Chee!  Chee!"  so  loudly  and 
saucily  he  felt  almost  sure  she  didn't,  and 
when  she  spread  her  snowy  wings  and  flew 
far,  far  away,  he  was  quite  sure  she  didn't. 

"My!  What  a  world!"  said  Little  White 
Bear.  "I  wonder — "  But  just  then  he 
heard  a  strange  sound,  —  crack  —  crack  — 
crackety,  crackety,  crack!  What  could  it 
be?  In  just  a  moment  Tdariuk,  the  rein- 
49 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

deer,  came  trotting  around  the  point,  and 
Little  White  Bear  knew  it  was  Tdariuk's 
heels  he  had  heard  cracking.  But  Tdariuk 
didn't  give  him  time  to  say  a  word.  He 
just  caught  one  whiff  of  bear  smell,  and  away 
he  went  faster  than  ever,  —  crack  —  crack 
—  crackety,  crackety,  crackety!  Crack! 
Crack ! 

Down  by  the  ocean  things  were  no  better. 
When  Little  Brown  Seal  saw  him  coming, 
he  tumbled  right  into  the  ocean  without 
so  much  as  saying  "How  do  you  do." 

Little  White  Bear  looked  this  way  and 
that,  and  suddenly  he  spied  some  little  black 
things  going  up  and  down,  up  and  down,  over 
a  little  snow  hill.  Sometimes  there  were 
four,  sometimes  three,  sometimes  two,  and 
sometimes  none  at  all.  "Must  be  Jim 
50 


LITTLE  WHITE  BEAR  AND  LITTLE  BLACK  BEAR 

Raven  and  his  crowd,"  said  Littte  White 
Bear.  "Well,  they  won't  get  away  from  me ! 
I'll  just  slip  up  to  that  little  hill  and  then 
jump  right  over  it  so  quick  they  won't 
have  time  to  fly  away!"  He  slipped  up 
very  quietly,  Oh!  just  as  quietly  as  any 
little  bear  could.  He  crept  round  this  little 
hill  and  that  little  salmon-berry  bush  until 
he  was  right  under  the  snow  hill.  "Now," 
he  said  to  himself,  "Now's  the  time!"  He 
couldn't  see  the  black  things  going  up  and 
down,  but  he  knew  they  were  there,  so  he 
gave  one  big,  big  spring  and  then,  "Oh! 
Oh!  Ow!  Wow!  E-e-e!  Let  me  go!"  he 
cried,  and  bounded  away  as  fast  as  he 
could.  What  could  have  scratched  him  so? 
Where  had  Jim  Raven  and  his  crowd  gone? 
Pretty  soon  he  looked  around,  and  right 
51 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

there  in  the  snow  where  he  had  jumped  was 
a  little  bear  just  about  his  own  size  and  a 
great  deal  like  him,  but  black  as  black  could 
be! 

"What'd  you  jump  on  my  stomach  for?" 
said  the  stranger.  Then  Little  White  Bear 
knew  right  away  what  he  had  done.  The 
black  things  he  thought  were  Jim  Raven  and 
his  crowd  were  not  those  people  at  all,  but 
they  were  Little  Black  Bear's  feet  sticking 
up  over  the  hill,  as  he  rolled  around  on  the 
snow,  having  a  frolic  all  by  himself. 

"Well,"  said  Little  White  Bear,  "where 
did  you  come  from?" 

"Oh !  My  home  is  just  a  little  way  up  in 

the  hills,"  said  Little  Black  Bear  politely. 

:'  We  have  a  great  many  cousins  in  this  cold 

country;    there  is  Little  Brown  Bear  and 

52 


Little  White  Bear  knew  right  away  what  he  had 
done.     Page  52 


LITTLE  WHITE  BEAR  AND  LITTLE  BLACK  BEAR 

Big  Barren  Ground  Grizzly  Bear,  and  I 
don't  know  how  many  more,  but  we  seldom 
get  to  see  any  of  our  white  cousins.  How 
are  you?  I  am  glad  to  see  you." 

"I  think  I  shall  be  very  fine  when  I  get 
over  my  scratches,"  smiled  Little  White 
Bear.  "You  must  have  very  sharp  claws." 

"They  are  quite  sharp,"  said  Little  Black 
Bear  slowly.  "I  am  sorry  I  scratched  you. 
Let's  find  something  to  play,  and  you  will 
forget  all  about  it." 

"All  right!"  said  Little  White  Bear  glee- 
fully, and  away  they  went,  looking  for  some 
adventure  in  the  great,  white  world. 


53 


"COME  on,"  cried  Little  White  Bear,  al- 
most standing  on  his  head  in  his  eagerness 
to  be  at  play  with  this  new  friend. 

"Let's  go  exploring,"  said  Little  Black 
Bear.  "That's  the  most  fun  of  all!" 

"All  right,"  shouted  Little  White  Bear, 
turning  a  handspring.  And  away  they  went, 
—  two  little  bears  out  to  see  what  they  could 
find  in  the  great,  white  world. 
|  They  went  down  by  the  lakes  and  saw 
where  Widgeon  had  made  her  nests  in  the 
warm  summer  time  ;  they  wandered  over 
54 


TROUBLE   FOR   LITTLE   WHITE   BEAR 

the  hills  and  said  "Woof  Woof!"  in  the 
doorway  to  Little  Mrs.  White  Fox's  home ; 
they  went  here  and  there,  but  at  last  they 
came  upon  something  really  very  strange. 

"What  can  it  be?"  said  Little  White 
Bear,  standing  on  one  foot  and  looking 
very  wise. 

"What  can  it  be !"  said  Little  Black  Bear, 
scratching  his  head.  And  what  indeed  could 
it  be  ?  It  was  right  down  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain.  There  was  a  big,  black,  square 
thing  right  in  the  snow,  and  in  the  middle 
of  that  there  was  another  little  square  that 
was  brown.  Did  any  one  in  the  wide  world 
ever  hear  of  finding  such  a  strange  thing 
in  a  great  white  wilderness?  There  wasn't 
a  square  thing  anywhere  else  on  the  whole 
tundra.  Things  were  round  and  crooked  and 
55 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

made  of  little  angles,  but  who  ever  saw  a 
square  thing  in  real  tundra  land  ? 

The  two  little  Bears  walked  round  and 
round  it  and  tried  to  think  what  it  could 
be.  At  last  Little  Black  Bear  put  one 
foot  on  it  very  timidly.  "There!"  he 
said  bravely,  "I  stepped  on  it!  Do  you 
dare?" 

i  "Of  course  I  do !"  said  Little  White  Bear, 
walking  right  out  on  the  big  square.  "See 
me!"  he  shouted  and  went  racing  right 
across  the  thing.  That  is,  he  started  across, 
but  just  when  he  was  on  the  little  brown 
square,  he  felt  his  feet  begin  to  sink.  There 
was  a  rip  —  ripping  of  something,  and  down 
he  went,  till  he  struck  kerwhack !  on  some- 
thing far  below.  He  jumped  to  his  feet 
very  quickly.  Where  was  he?  There  were 
56 


TROUBLE   FOR   LITTLE   WHITE   BEAR 

brown  walls  all  about  him,  like  the  walls 
of  the  cave  where  his  home  was.  And  look 
as  he  might,  Little  White  Bear  could  see 
no  way  to  get  out  except  to  climb  back  up 
through  the  hole  he  had  made  when  he  fell 
in.  And  that  was  far,  far  above  his  head. 
He  could  never  get  out  that  way.  And  what 
was  worst  of  all,  as  he  began  to  look  around, 
he  was  more  and  more  sure  of  one  dread- 
ful thing.  And  that  was  that  he  was  in  the 
house  of  Omnok  the  hunter.  My!  That 
was  a  terrible  thought.  But  it  was  true! 
They  had  been  playing  on  Omnok's  roof,  and 
Little  White  Bear  had  fallen  right  through 
the  window  in  the  roof.  Omnok  had  made  a 
curtain  out  of  the  coats  of  many  eider  ducks, 
and  this  was  the  brown  square  that  Little 
White  Bear  had  started  to  run  across. 
57 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

Well,  there  wasn't  a  thing  he  could  do. 
He  just  wandered  round  and  round,  but  he 
couldn't  find  the  least  little  place  where  he 
could  get  out.  "What  a  strange  place  to 
live!"  he  thought  to  himself.  "How  does 
he  ever  get  into  it  himself?" 

But  Little  White  Bear  wasn't  the  least  bit 
doubtful  that  Omnok  would  be  able  to 
get  into  his  house  when  he  came  home.  And 
you  may  be  very  sure  he  wasn't  a  bit  happy. 
He  just  went  way  over  in  the  corner  under 
Omnok's  bed  and  sucked  his  thumb  while  he 
wished  he  was  at  home  in  his  own  dear  cave. 
All  of  a  sudden  he  heard  a  noise.  Omnok 
was  coming!  Little  White  Bear  heard  his 
voice,  very  big  and  very  angry,  outside ! 
"Who  has  stolen  my  'pooksack'?"  Omnok 
growled.  "Who  has  broken  my  window?" 
58 


TROUBLE   FOE   LITTLE   WHITE   BEAR 

How  poor  Little  White  Bear  trembled. 
He  crouched  down  under  the  bed  just  as 
far  as  he  could.  Now  he  could  hear  Omnok 
come  closer  to  his  house.  And  then  he 
saw  Omnok's  face  at  the  side  of  the  wall. 
Ah !  Yes !  There  was  a  little  curtain  there ! 
Why  had  he  not  seen  it!  But  suddenly 
a  happy  thought  came  to  Little  White  Bear. 
Just  when  Omnok  was  standing  up,  with  his 
terrible  gun  in  his  hand,  Little  White  Bear 
rushed  right  at  him  and  tumbled  against 
his  feet  so  hard  that  Omnok  went  sprawling 
to  the  floor,  and  his  terrible  gun  went  clatter- 
ing after. 

Little  White  Bear  bounded  out  of  the  little 

door.    But  there  was  just  a  little  alley  and 

then  another  room  with  a  window  high  up 

in  the  wall.    He  looked  quickly,  and  saw  a 

59 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

little  shelf,  like  Omnok's  bed,  only  higher 
up,  right  under  the  window!  Little  White 
Bear  jumped  up  but  tumbled  back.  He 
tried  it  again  and  fell  back.  But  the  third 
time  he  found  himself  on  the  shelf,  and  in 
another  minute  he  was  out  in  the  fine  old 
world,  running  as  fast  as  ever  he  could  for 
home.  And  you  may  be  very  sure  he  was 
glad  to  be  with  his  mother  safe  in  their  cave 
that  night. 


60 


CHAPTER  IX 
LITTLE  BLACK  BEAR'S  DISCOVERY 

WHAT  was  Little  Black  Bear  doing  all  the 
time  Little  White  Bear  was  down  in  Omnok's 
house,  and  what  about  Omnok's  "pook- 
sack"  ?  Well,  Little  Black  Bear  looked 
down  into  Omnok's  house  and  wished  his 
little  playmate  would  hurry  out,  so  they 
could  discover  some  more  things.  But  when 
he  had  waited  what  seemed  a  long,  long  time, 
he  went  on  a  little  exploring  trip  all  by  him- 
self. And  he  discovered  something  right 
away.  It  had  four  legs  like  Tdariuk,  the 
reindeer.  But  it  was  ever  so  much  larger 
61 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

than  Tdariuk,  and  its  legs  were  straighter. 
Little  Black  Bear  wasn't  long  in  finding 
out  that  this  was  not  really  any  one  at  all, 
but  just  a  rack  Omnok  had  made  on  which 
to  keep  his  meat.  And  there  was  meat  up 
there  !  Oh !  strips  and  strips  of  it !  But 
it  was  all  high  out  of  reach.  Little  Black 
Bear  sniffed  and  sniffed,  and  My!  It  did 
smell  good !  But  even  when  he  stood  on 
his  tiptoes  he  couldn't  reach  the  least  little 
mouthful.  There  was  one  thing  closer  to 
the  ground.  And  such  a  strange  thing  as 
it  was !  It  looked  like  a  coat  that  had 
belonged  to  one  of  Little  Brown  Seal's 
cousins,  but  he  couldn't  be  in  the  coat  right 
then,  for  the  collar  was  tied  up  tight  as  could 
be,  and  so  were  the  sleeves. 
"If  there  was  any  one  in  that  coat,  he 
62 


LITTLE  BLACK  BEARDS  DISCOVERT 

would  smother  right  away,"  said  Little 
Black  Bear,  scratching  his  head.  "But 
there  is  something  in  it !  See  how  its  sides 
bulge  out !  I'll  just  give  it  a  good  poke 
and  see  what  happens." 

Now  that  strange  thing  was  just  hung 
up  by  one  string,  and  it  swung  about  very 
easily.  When  Little  Black  Bear  gave  it  a 
great  poke,  it  went  up  in  the  air  quickly! 
It  came  down  quickly  too,  and  it  hit  Little 
Black  Bear  square  on  his  nose.  He  spun 
about  and  tumbled  down  in  the  snow,  and 
at  first  he  had  a  notion  to  be  angry. 

When  the  thing  had  stopped  swinging,  he 
stood  on  his  tiptoes  and  smelled  of  it. 
"E-ee-ee!  How  good  it  smells,"  he  cried. 
"I  just  believe  that  is  Omnok's  'pook- 
sack'  of  seal  oil  which  mother  has  been  talk- 
63 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

ing  about !"  Little  Black  Bear's  mouth  be- 
gan to  water  and  water,  for  his  mother  had 
told  him  there  was  nothing  half  so  good  in 
the  world  as  fine,  rich  seal  oil. 

Now  how  was  Little  Black  Bear  going  to 
get  that  oil  out  of  that  "pooksack"?  He 
thought  and  thought  and  thought.  At 
last  he  remembered  the  sleeves  which  were 
tied  up.  They  were  tied  way  down  at  the 
ends,  and  there  must  be  seal  oil  right  down 
to  the  very  tips.  His  mouth  was  too  small 
to  bite  the  "pooksack",  but  one  of  these 
sleeves,  —  that  was  the  very  thing !  He 
would  bite  one  of  those,  hard !  with  his  sharp 
teeth,  and  the  oil  would  come  right  out  into 
his  mouth ! 

He  had  to  stand  on  his  tiptoes  to  reach, 
but  at  last  he  set  his  teeth  hard  and 
64 


LITTLE  BLACK  BEAR/S  DISCOVERY 

Ah-ne-ca!  How  good  that  seal  oil  did 
taste!  It  went  gurgle,  gurgle,  right  down 
his  throat  so  fast  he  could  hardly  get  time 
to  swallow. 

But  very  soon  he  began  to  feel  as  if  he 
had  had  quite  enough.  How  was  he  going 
to  stop  the  seal  oil  from  coming  out  ?  Well, 
he  couldn't  do  that.  He  would  just  have 
to  open  his  mouth  and  dodge  right  out  of 
the  way  quick.  "That  will  be  easy,"  he 
thought  to  himself.  Anyway,  he  took  two 
or  three  more  swallows,  then  he  opened  his 
mouth  wide,  and  Ah-ne-ca!  before  he  could 
move  one  bit,  that  seal  oil  shot  him  right  in 
the  eyes  and  ears  and  began  to  run  down  his 
back  so  fast  he  couldn't  even  give  one  grunt. 
You  should  have  seen  that  little  bear !  He 
was  oil  from  head  to  foot !  And  as  for  his 
65 


LITTLE   WHITE   FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC   FRIENDS 

fine,  silky,  glossy,  black  coat,  he  was  just  sure 
it  was  ruined !  He  didn't  stop  a  minute  to 
see  if  Little  White  Bear  was  out  of  Omnok's 
house,  but  ran  home  as  fast  as  ever  he  could. 

"Why!  Why!"  cried  his  mother,  as  he 
came  into  the  house.  "Where  have  you 
been  ?  " 

Little  Black  Bear  couldn't  say  a  word. 
He  just  crawled  over  in  one  corner  and 
looked  down  at  his  toes. 

And  was  his  coat  really  ruined?  Ask 
puss  if  her  coat  is  ruined  some  day  when  she 
comes  in  out  of  the  rain,  and  see  what  she 
will  say.  Mother  Black  Bear  cleaned  that 
coat  up  that  very  night  so  it  looked  better 
then  new,  but  how  she  did  it  I  wouldn't 
pretend  to  say. 


66 


CHAPTER  X 
FUN  FOR  TWO  LITTLE  BEARS 

LITTLE  WHITE  BEAR  and  Little  Black 
Bear  met  at  the  snow  hill  next  day,  but 
Little  White  Bear  didn't  jump  into  Little 
Black  Bear's  sharp  claws,  and  you  may 
be  very,  very  sure  they  didn't  go  exploring 
around  Omnok's  house !  They  did  go  way, 
way  out  on  the  white  roof  of  the  ocean. 
There  were  splendid  hills  of  ice  to  hide  be- 
hind, and  everywhere  were  great  ice  boulders 
over  which  they  could  play  leap-frog. 

Little  White  Bear  had  just  started  to 
leap  over  one  fine,  large  boulder,  and  Little 
67 


Black  Bear  was  coming  right  after  him, 
when  all  of  a  sudden  Little  White  Bear  turned 
a  backward  somersault  and  tumbled  right 
into  Little  Black  Bear. 

"Wow!"  howled  Little  Black  Bear. 
"What's  the  matter?" 

"Shish!"  whispered  Little  White  Bear. 
"I  saw  something!" 

"On  the  ice?"  asked  Little  Black  Bear, 
beginning  to  be  frightened. 

"Right  out  there  a  little  bit  farther," 
whispered  Little  White  Bear.  "And  it 
was  the  biggest  thing!  Oh!  My!  I  can't 
tell  how  big  it  was!"  Then  Little  Black 
Bear  was  frightened!  What  could  it  be, 
way  out  here  on  the  ice,  miles  and  miles 
from  shore?  Little  White  Bear  hadn't  seen 
it  move,  but  how  could  it  get  way  out 
68 


FUN   FOR  TWO   LITTLE   BEARS 

here  if  it  weren't  alive?  Trees  and  things 
like  that  couldn't  grow  on  the  roof  of  the 
ocean. 

They  lay  crouched  down  behind  that 
big  ice  boulder  until  Little  White  Bear's 
foot  had  gone  to  sleep,  and  Little  Black 
Bear  was  catching  cold  from  sitting  on 
the  ice. 

"I  am  going  to  peek  round  and  see  if  it 
has  moved,"  said  Little  White  Bear  bravely. 
He  looked,  and  it  hadn't  moved  one  little 
bit,  so  it  seemed  as  if  it  couldn't  really  be 
alive!  Perhaps  it  was  something  that 
Omnok  had  left  there.  They  crept  up 
toward  it,  little  by  little,  until  they  were 
right  up  to  it,  and  what  do  you  think? 
It  was  nothing  but  Omnok's  big  whaling 
boat  he  had  left  on  the  ice. 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

They  looked  all  around  to  see  if  Omnok 
were  about,  then  they  tumbled  right  into 
that  boat  for  a  frolic.  There  were  a  great 
many  things  in  the  boat,  but  the  most 
interesting  of  all  was  a  great,  long  "pook- 
sack."  It  wasn't  full  of  seal  oil.  If  it 
had  been,  I  am  quite  sure^Little  Black  Bear 
would  have  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  It 
was  just  full  of  air.  Omnok  had  used  it 
for  a  sled  when  he  drew  his  boat  over  the 
roof  of  the  ocean.  And  what  a  splendid 
football  it  did  make,  and  how  they  did 
knock  it  about!  First  Little  White  Bear 
would  give  it  a  boost  with  his  big,  clumsy 
paws,  then  Little  Black  Bear  would  boost 
it  right  over  Little  White  Bear's  head! 
Then  there  would  be  a  scramble  to  see  who 
would  get  to  it  first.  But  one  time  Little 
70 


FUN   FOR  TWO  LITTLE  BEARS 

• 

Black  Bear  kicked  it  right  over  Little  White 
Bear's  head  so  high  that  it  tumbled  off 
the  roof  of  the  ocean  and  down  into  the 
great  dark  sea.  And  Little  White  Bear 
tumbled  right  into  the  ocean  after  it! 
Yes,  sir!  Right  into  the  water,  and  you 
never  saw  water  so  cold  in  all  your  life! 
Little  White  Bear  didn't  scramble  out  as 
fast  as  ever  he  could!  He  just  climbed 
up  on  that  "pooksack",  happy  as  a  clam, 
and  wanted  Little  Black  Bear  to  come  in 
too !  Little  Black  Bear,  however,  had  a 
notion  that  the  water  was  cold,  so  he  touched 
it  with  his  toe  and  "Um-m-m!  Um-m-m!" 
he  didn't  want  any  swim  that  day.  But 
Little  White  Bear  wouldn't  come  out  of  the 
water  and  play,  so  all  Little  Black  Bear 
could  do  was  to  skip  along  home  and  tell 
71 


LITTLE  WHITE;  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

his  mother  that  he  was  quite  sure  that  Little 
White  Bear  would  freeze  to  death  that 
very  night. 

"Oh,  no!"  said  Madam  Black  Bear, 
looking  very  wise.  "Little  White  Bear 
won't  freeze  to  death." 

"Why,"  said  Little  Black  Bear,  opening 
his  eyes  wide,  "I'm  sure  I'd  freeze  right 
away." 

"So  you  would,"  said  his  mother.  "You 
were  a  wise  young  fellow  to  try  the  water 
before  you  ventured  in.  But  Little  White 
Bear  is  quite  different.  He  has  a  very 
warm  coat  and  is  very  fat.  He  is  used  to 
the  cold  water  and  will  live  in  it  all  winter. 
But  just  you  wait,"  she  added,  with  a  sly 
wink.  "You  will  have  a  surprise  for  him 
some  day!  When  he  comes  to  look  for 
72 


FUN   FOR  TWO   LITTLE   BEARS 

you  some  cold,  cold  time,  won't  he  be  sur- 
prised to  find  you  snugly  tucked  away  in 
bed  and  sleeping  all  day  and  all  night? 
Won't  he,  though?" 

Madam  Black  Bear  laughed  a  big  bear 
laugh,  and  Little  Black  Bear  laughed  a  little 
bear  laugh,  so  together  they  were  after  all 
two  of  the  happiest  bears  in  all  the  world. 

When  Omnok  went  out  on  the  roof  of 
the  sea  to  get  his  big  boat,  he  saw  what 
Little  White  Bear  and  Little  Black  Bear 
had  done.  He  was  very  angry  when  he 
saw  that  his  "pooksack"  was  gone.  He 
thought  Big  White  Bear  had  been  there. 

"I'll  go  hunting  for  him  to-morrow  morn- 
ing," he  said  to  himself.  "And  I'll  take 
Huskie,  my  Malemute  dog,  along!" 


CHAPTER  XI 
BIG  WHITE  BEAR  MEETS  HUSKIE 

"  Now,  I'll  tell  you/'  Omnok  said  to  Huskie, 
"Big  White  Bear  is  a  great  big  bully.  He 
likes  to  fight  all  the  little  folks  of  the  tundra 
and  sea  because  he  is  so  big.  It  would  be 
a  good  thing  if  we  could  show  him  that  he 
isn't  so  awfully  big,  after  all.  Wouldn't 
it?" 

"Ki,  yi,  yiyi,"  said  Huskie,  which  meant 
he  thought  it  would. 

"Well,  then,  this  is  what  you  must  do. 
Go  running  about  on  the  ocean  ice  every- 
where and  hunt  for  him.  I  will  be  hunting 
74 


BIG  WHITE  BEAR  MEETS  HTJSKIE 

too.  If  you  find  him  first,  run  away,  then 
call  me.  I  will  shoot  him.  Do  you  see?" 

"Ki,  yiyi,"  answered  Huskie  again,  mean- 
ing this  time,  "I  do." 

Huskie  ran  up  and  down,  in  and  out 
among  the  ice  piles,  until  his  feet  were  sore. 
He  was  very  anxious  to  find  Big  White  Bear. 
Whenever  a  little  fellow  has  a  chance  to 
harm  a  big  fellow  he  thinks  is  a  bully,  he 
always  wants  to  do  it.  Did  you  ever  notice 
that? 

So  Huskie  ran  on  and  on,  even  if  his  feet 
were  sore. 

I  "Hello!"  He  had  just  gone  around 
something  he  thought  was  an  ice  pile  when 
he  heard  a  voice. 

Looking  up,  he  saw  the  face  of  Big  White 
Bear.    What  he  was  going  around  wasn't 
75 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

ice  at  all.  It  was  Big  White  Bear.  And, 
my!  What  a  monster  he  was!  Huskie 
had  to  look  away  off  at  Cape  Prince  of  Wales 
Mountain  and  look  again  at  Big  White 
Bear  before  he  could  tell  which  was  the  larger, 
bear  or  mountain. 

He  wanted  to  run  away.  But  Big  White 
Bear  was  so  very  near  he  didn't  dare  to, 
so  he  just  said  "Hello!"  But  to  himself 
he  said,  "Big  White  Bear  is  a  big,  big  bully, 
just  as  Omnok  said.  I  am  glad  he  is  going 
to  get  killed." 

"Who  are  you?"  asked  Big  White  Bear. 

"I'm  Huskie,  the  Malemute  dog.  Who 
are  you?" 

"I  am  a  Polar  Bear.  Where  did  you 
come  from?" 

"My  home's  over  there  on  the  shore," 
76 


BIG  WHITE  BEAR  MEETS  HUSKIE 

said  Huskie,  pointing  his  nose  toward  shore. 
"Where'd  you  come  from?" 
•-  "I  came  from  far,  far  North.  I've  never 
been  here  before.  Didn't  mean  to  come 
this  time.  Last  night  I  went  to  sleep  on 
a  corner  of  Old  Ocean's  blanket.  Old 
Ocean  put  up  his  knee  in  his  sleep,  and  my 
corner  of  the  blanket  slid  right  down  here. 
What  do  you  think  about  that?" 

"Very  strange." 

Now  Huskie  is  a  great  fighter  himself, 
for  a  little  fellow.  And  great  fighters  like 
fight  stories.  He  was  just  itching  to  know 
all  about  Big  White  Bear's  big  fights. 

"Who'd  you  kill  last?"  he  asked. 

"Who  did  I  kiU?"  said  Big  White  Bear, 
opening  his  eyes  very  wide. 

"Yes,  was  it  a  very  bad  fight?" 
77 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

"A  bad  fight?" 

"Yes,  you  don't  seem  much  scratched 
up  for  a  great  fighter.  Look  at  me;  one 
leg  bent,  nose  split,  and  scarred  up  all  over," 
said  Huskie  proudly. 

"Do  you  think  I'm  a  great  fighter?" 

"Of  course  you  are.  Omnok  says — " 
Huskie  caught  himself  just  in  time.  If 
Big  White  Bear  knew  all  about  Omnok,  he'd 
run  away. 

"Why,  I  never  fight  anybody,"  said  Big 
White  Bear  gravely. 

"Ha,  ha,  ha!"  laughed  Huskie.  "That's 
a  good  story.  You  never  fight  any  one. 
What  a  fib!" 

"It's  the  truth." 

"The  truth?  Ha!  Ha!  Of  course  that's 
not  true.  You're  a  bear.  All  bears  are 
78 


BIG  WHITE  BEAR  MEETS  HUSKIE 

fighters,  and  great  big  bullies,  besides !   Why ! 
I  bet  you've  got  claws  three  inches  long." 

"You  think  so?"  Big  White  Bear  put 
out  his  front  paw  which  was  as  big  as  the 
trunk  of  a  small  tree.  Huskie  dodged. 

"Look,"  said  Big  White  Bear. 

Huskie  looked  at  Big  White  Bear's  claws. 
They  were  not  as  long  as  his  own.  They 
were  broad  and  blunt,  just  sharp  enough 
for  climbing  over  the  ice. 

"  I  don't  know  why  they  name  me  Bear," 
said  Big  White  Bear;  "Old  Buster  Grizzly, 
Buster  Brown,  and  Buster  Black,  now,  are 
very  distant  relatives  of  mine.  Indeed, 
they  have  long  claws  and  are  great  fighters. 
But  my  nearest  relative,  Tusks,  the  Walrus, 
is  no  fighter  at  all,  and  believe  me,  neither 
am  I." 

79 


But  Huskie  was  a  very  quarrelsome  and 
suspicious  fellow. 

"That  will  do  to  tell,"  said  he;  "but  I 
know  it  is  not  true.  As  for  those  claws  of 
yours,  I  can  guess  how  that  is.  They  look 
very  harmless  now.  But  when  you  want 
to  fight,  you  run  them  out  like  a  cat's." 

"It's  no  such  thing,"  said  Big  White  Bear. 

"Oh,  yes,  it  is.  Omnok  says  it  is.  I  am 
going  to  tell  him  now,  and  he'll  fix  you!" 
Vain  boast !  Huskie  had  forgotten  himself. 

In  another  instant,  before  he  could  dodge, 
Big  White  Bear  had  grabbed  him  and  hugged 
him  tight.  Huskie  could  not  call  out  at  all. 
His  voice  became  the  tiniest  little  squeak. 

"  Let  me  go !    Let  me  go ! "  he  squeaked. 
"I   won't   tell!    I  won't  tell!    Oh!    Oh! 
Please,  Mr.  Bear,  let  me  go!" 
80 


"  I  am  going  to  make  your  teeth  chatter  so  you 
can't  call  your  master."     Page  81 


BIG   WHITE   BEAR  MEETS  HUSKIE 

But  Big  White  Bear  only  grinned,  and 
said  "Huh?" 

"Oh,  I'll  not  kiU  you,"  said  Big  White 
Bear  finally.  "It's  just  as  I  have  told  you. 
I  am  no  fighter.  I  never  hurt  anybody, 
unless  I  am  driven  to  do  so.  I'll  not  kill 
you,  but  I  am  going  to  make  your  teeth 
chatter  so  you  can't  call  your  master." 

At  that,  Big  White  Bear  dropped  right 
down  into  the  cold,  cold  water  with  Huskie 
in  his  arms. 

Now  Big  White  Bear  lives  half  the  time 
in  water,  and  he  does  not  mind  it  a  bit. 
But  poor  Huskie!  When  Big  White  Bear 
put  him  back  on  the  ice,  he  couldn't  have 
said  a  word  to  save  his  life. 

"Now,  go  and  tell  your  master  that  you 
have  seen  Big  White  Bear,"  said  Big  White 
81 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

Bear,  grinning.  "  But  you  don't  know  where 
he  is  just  now." 

Then  he  dropped  into  the  water  and  dis- 
appeared. 

Huskie  did  not  wait  to  hunt  up  his  mas- 
ter. He  ran  home  as  fast  as  he  could  go. 
Try  as  he  might,  Omnok  has  never  been 
able  to  get  him  to  go  hunting  for  Big  White 
Bear  again. 


82 


CHAPTER  XH 
LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  GOES  HUNTING 

LITTLE  WHITE  Fox  went  hunting  for  Big 
White  Bear !  And  he  didn't  have  a  gun  or 
a  spear  or  a  bow  and  arrow !  Now  what  do 
you  think  of  that!  You  see,  it  was  this 
way.  It  was  winter  tune,  and  food  was 
becoming  very  scarce  on  the  hills  and  the 
tundra.  All  the  delicious  roots  were  frozen 
hard  in  the  earth,  and  the  berries  were  all 
gone.  Little  White  Fox  was  very  hungry, 
and  he  told  Little  Mrs.  White  Fox  about  it. 

"Well,"  said  his  mother,  "I  guess  we  will 
have  to  go  and  find  a  Big  White  Bear." 
83 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

"Find  a  Big  White  Bear!"  cried  Little 
White  Fox.  "Why,  he'd  eat  us!" 

"But  you  mustn't  let  him  do  that,"  said 
Mrs.  White  Fox. 

"But  what  do  we  want  to  find  him 
for?"  said  Little  White  Fox,  scratching  his 
head. 

"Listen,"  said  Mrs.  White  Fox  very 
mysteriously.  "Big  White  Bear  is  a  very 
wasteful  fellow.  He  has  a  big,  big  kitchen, 
and  he  has  the  greatest  amount  of  food 
stored  there.  Oh !  piles  and  piles  of  it !  He 
doesn't  like  to  eat  his  food  in  his  kitchen. 
He  brings  some  out  every  day  and  always 
leaves  plenty.  Now,  if  we  can  find  him,  we 
will  just  follow  him  about  until  his  dinner 
hour.  When  he  is  gone,  we  will  have  plenty 
to  eat.  See?" 

84 


LITTLE   WHITE  FOX  GOES  HUNTING 

Little  White  Fox  did  see  and,  though  he 
was  half  afraid  of  Big  White  Bear,  he  was 
also  very  hungry,  and  so  he  was  anxious  to 
go  on  the  hunt  right  away. 

"You  go  one  way,  and  I'll  go  the  other," 
said  Madam  White  Fox.  "When  you  find 
Big  White  Bear,  you  come  right  back  to 
this  rock.  I  will  come  back  too,  and  we 
will  follow  him  about  for  weeks  and  weeks 
and  have  plenty  to  eat." 

Away  went  Little  White  Fox,  looking, 
looking  everywhere  for  Big  White  Bear! 
He  looked  behind  the  cliff  on  the  mountain, 
But  Big  White  Bear  wasn't  there.  He 
looked  on  the  sand  bars,  but  he  wasn't 
there.  He  went  peering  all  around  the  little 
lakes,  but  he  wasn't  there. 

And  where  do  you  think  Big  White  Bear 
85 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

was?  He  wasn't  in  very  good  business,  I 
assure  you.  He  was  over  on  the  other  side 
of  the  mountain.  Tusks  the  Walrus  had 
just  climbed  out  of  the  water  and  had  gone 
to  sleep  on  the  beach  close  to  the  mountain. 
Tusks  was  a  great,  good  natured  fellow,  with 
a  monstrous,  heavy  body  and  a  pair  of  ter- 
rible looking  tusks,  which  were  not  really 
terrible  at  all,  for  Tusks  never  used  them 
except  for  digging  clams.  Big  White  Bear 
was  up  on  the  rocks,  way,  way  above  Tusks, 
and  he  had  a  great  rock  in  his  powerful 
paws,  as  big  a  rock  as  he  could  lift !  He  was 
going  to  throw  it  right  down  on  Tusks  and 
kill  him.  He  had  plenty  to  eat  at  home, 
but  he  thought  this  would  be  a  fine  chance 
to  get  some  fresh  meat. 
Just  when  he  was  getting  ready  to  throw 
86 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  GOES  HUNTING 

it,  something  happened.  Little  White  Fox 
came  round  the  corner  of  the  hill,  looking 
here,  there,  and  everywhere  for  Big  White 
Bear.  He  came  on  round  and  round  till 
he  was  just  above  Big  White  Bear,  and 
then  all  at  once  he  saw  him!  He  was  so 
glad  he  had  found  Big  White  Bear,  that  he 
stood  right  up  on  his  two  feet  and  gave  one 
big,  big  laugh,  "Ho!  Ho!  Ha!  Ha!  Yak! 
Yak!  Yak!"  just  like  that. 

There  was  never  a  worse  scared  bear  than 
Big  White  Bear  in  all  the  world!  He  had 
a  guilty  conscience,  for  he  knew  it  was  not 
right  to  throw  a  rock  on  poor,  tired  Tusks, 
and  when  he  heard  Little  White  Fox  laugh, 
he  didn't  know  who  it  was.  It  might  be 
some  one  very  big  and  dangerous.  It  might 
be  Omnok,  the  hunter,  with  his  terrible  gun ! 
87 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

Big  White  Bear  just  trembled  and  trembled, 
and  the  rock  fell  from  his  powerful  paws 
and  went  splashing  into  the  water  without 
hurting  Tusks  at  all.  But  when  he  looked 
around  to  see  who  had  laughed  at  him,  he 
couldn't  see  any  one  at  all.  Little  White 
Fox  knew  a  whole  lot  better  than  to  let 
Big  White  Bear  see  him  just  then !  But 
just  after  that  Little  White  Fox  did  a  very 
thoughtless  thing.  He  was  so  hungry  and 
wanted  so  much  to  see  where  Big  White 
Bear  had  his  kitchen,  that  he  forgot  all 
about  his  mother  telling  him  to  come  back 
to  the  big  rock,  and  away  he  went,  after 
Big  White  Bear  all  by  himself. 


88 


CHAPTER  XIII 
BIG  WHITE  BEAR'S  KITCHEN 

"I  MUSTN'T  lose  Big  White  Bear,"  thought 
Little  White  Fox,  "and  I  mustn't  let  him 
see  me.  Oh!  My!  No!  I  mustn't  do  that, 
for  he  is  a  big,  big  fellow  and  who  knows 
what  he  might  do  to  me?"  So  he  slipped 
along  behind  very  slyly,  hiding  behind  this 
rock  and  that  one,  behind  this  snow  pile 
and  that  one,  very  carefully  indeed. 

But  Big  White  Bear  was  nearly  as  badly 
frightened  as  Little  White  Fox.  "What 
was  that  great  big  laugh?"  he  kept  thinking 
to  himself.  And  every  time  he  thought 
of  it,  he  looked  behind  him,  and  I  am  sure 
89 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

he  really  expected  to  see  Omnok,  the  hunter, 
step  right  out  with  his  terrible  gun.  But 
by  and  by,  when  he  had  gone  down  the  moun- 
tain and  across  the  tundra  and  over  the 
little  lakes,  he  was  not  so  much  afraid,  and 
he  began  to  grow  hungry.  Now  that  was 
just  what  Little  White  Fox  hoped  would 
happen,  for  he  was  very  hungry  himself 
and  very  curious  besides  to  see  where  Big 
White  Bear  kept  his  pantry.  Where  would 
it  be?  Would  it  be  in  the  tall  mountains, 
or  on  the  tundra,  or  out  on  the  roof  of  the 
sea  ?  How  interesting  it  would  be  to  know ! 
Pretty  soon  Big  White  Bear  began  to  go 
straight  ahead,  without  turning  to  one 
side  or  the  other.  Then  Little  White  Fox 
was  sure  he  had  started  for  his  kitchen,  and 
he  was  glad  as  could  be !  Big  White  Bear 
90 


BIG  WHITE  BEAR'S  KITCHEN 


went  right  out  on  the  roof  to  the  ocean  and 
on  and  on  and  on,  till  Little  White  Fox  was 
good  and  tired.  When  he  came  to  the  dark, 
dark  waters  of  the  ocean,  Big  White  Bear 
didn't  stop  one  moment.  He  just  tumbled 
right  into  the  water  and  disappeared  all 
at  once ! 

"My!"  said  Little  White  Fox,  opening 
his  eyes  very  wide.  "He  will  surely 
be  drowned."  And  then  all  at  once  he 
thought  of  the  fine  dinner  he  had  been  ex- 
pecting to  get  and  how  far  it  was  back  to 
the  great  rock  where  his  mother  was  to  wait 
for  him.  And  then,  of  course,  he  remem- 
bered what  his  mother  had  said  about 
coming  back  to  call  her.  How  sorry  he  was 
now  that  he  had  forgotten  all  about  that. 
Oh !  if  they  could  only  find  Big  White  Bear's 
91 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

kitchen !  Just  then  Little  White  Fox  heard 
a  scratching  on  the  ice  and  bounded  behind 
an  ice  boulder  before  he  was  seen.  Big 
White  Bear  had  come  right  up  out  of  the 
ocean  with  the  biggest  dinner  you  have  ever 
seen.  His  kitchen  was  right  down  in  the 
water  under  the  roof  of  the  ocean,  and  he 
had  brought  his  dinner  out  on  the  ice  to  eat 
it  in  the  sunshine. 

Little  White  Fox  thought  Big  White  Bear 
would  never,  never  get  through  eating,  but 
he  finally  did.  And  there  was  quite  a  big 
dinner  left  for  Little  White  Fox.  When 
Big  White  Bear  was  fast  asleep  on  the  ice, 
taking  his  after-dinner  nap,  Little  White 
Fox  crept  up  and  began  to  eat  his  dinner 
too.  "He  didn't  ask  me,"  said  Little  White 
Fox,  "but  then  I  didn't  give  him  a  chance, 
92 


BIG  WHITE  BEAR'S  KITCHEN 


I  am  sure  he  would  if  I  had."  It  was  a  very 
good  dinner  and  how  Little  White  Fox's 
sides  did  stick  out  when  he  had  finished! 
But  he  didn't  stay  to  say  thank  you,  so  I 
guess  he  wasn't  very  sure  that  Big  White 
Bear  would  have  invited  him.  He  just  hid 
behind  an  ice  boulder  and  waited  for  Big 
White  Bear  to  wake  up.  He  mustn't  lose 
Big  White  Bear.  He  began  to  think  about 
that  fine  dinner  he  had  just  eaten  and  about 
how  he  had  found  Big  White  Bear  all  by 
himself  and  how  he  had  frightened  him. 
It  made  him  feel  so  good  he  just  wanted  to 
laugh.  The  more  he  thought,  the  more  he 
wanted  to  laugh,  and  the  first  thing,  before 
he  knew  it,  he  was  laughing  right  out  loud, 
"Ha !  Ha !  Yak !  Yak !  Yak !  Yak ! " 
Just  that  minute  Big  White  Bear  woke 
93 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

up,  and  he  didn't  stop  to  see  who  was  laugh- 
ing! He  tumbled  right  into  the  ocean  and 
went  paddling  away  as  fast  as  ever  he  could. 
He  didn't  stop  till  he  was  almost  out  of  sight, 
then  he  looked  back  once  for  just  a  moment 
and  went  paddling  on  and  on,  till  he  was 
way  out  of  sight.  Little  White  Fox  had 
lost  Big  White  Bear.  All  the  fine  dinners 
he  was  to  have  in  the  future  were  lost,  just 
because  he  had  laughed  at  the  wrong  time. 
I  don't  know  what  Little  Mrs.  White 
Fox  had  to  say  to  him  when  he  came  home, 
for  I  wasn't  there,  but  there  are  some  very 
fine  switches  made  out  of  reindeer  moss  lying 
all  over  the  tundra.  However,  Little  White 
Fox  was  a  very  young  fellow  and  had  a 
great  many  things  to  learn,  so  perhaps  his 
mother  did  not  punish  him  very  hard. 
94 


CHAPTER  XIV 

BIG  WHITE  BEAR  FINDS  LITTLE  WHITE 
FOX 

WHEN  Omnok  returned  from  hunting  Big 
White  Bear  he  sat  down  arid  began  to  think. 
"White  bears  about,"  he  thought  to  himself. 
"There  must  be  white  foxes  about  too,  for 
they  always  stay  close  to  white  bears.  I 
must  go  out  and  set  some  traps."  And  that 
is  just  what  he  did  the  very  next  evening. 
He  threw  the  cruel  looking  traps,  with  their 
ugly  steel  jaws,  over  his  shoulder  and  went 
out  to  look  for  a  good  place  to  set  them. 
At  last  he  came  to  a  place  where  there  were 
many  white  bear  tracks.  "I  guess  this  will 
95 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

do,"  he  said  to  himself.  He  took  out  his 
great  knife  and  cut  out  a  cake  of  snow  that 
was  nearly  as  hard  as  ice.  He  cut  this 
up  into  four  little  snow  boards,  very  square 
and  very  smooth.  Then  he  made  a  little 
hole  in  the  snow  and  put  a  trap  there. 
Next  he  made  a  thin  shingle  of  snow,  —  so 
thin  that  the  least  touch  would  break  it 
right  in  two.  He  put  this  over  the  trap 
and  smoothed  it  over  so  carefully  that  no 
one  in  all  the  world  could  tell  there  was  a 
trap  hidden  there.  Then  he  made  a  little 
house  over  it  with  the  four  boards,  —  a  very 
fine  looking  house  with  a  roof  and  three  sides, 
and  with  one  side  left  open  for  the  door.  He 
put  some  nice  pieces  of  meat  inside  of  the 
house,  so  when  any  little  fox  came  to  live 
there  he  wouldn't  have  to  go  away  hungry. 
96 


BIG    WHITE    BEAK    FINDS    LITTLE    WHITE    FOX 

Finally  he  spilled  a  few  drops  of  delicious 
smelling  seal  oil  around  the  house  and  went 
away. 

Now  who  should  happen  by  that  way, 
almost  right  away,  but  our  own  Little  White 
Fox,  looking,  looking  everywhere  for  Big 
White  Bear.  Right  away  the  west  wind 
blew  a  little  whiff  of  the  rich  seal  oil  in  front 
of  his  nose,  and  almost  before  he  knew  it, 
Little  White  Fox  was  standing  in  front  of 
the  little  house  that  Omnok  built,  wonder- 
ing how  it  came  there  and  how  there  hap- 
pened to  be  such  delicious  looking  meat 
inside  of  it.  He  wasn't  quite  sure  it  was 
safe  to  go  inside,  so  he  just  licked  up  all  the 
drops  of  seal  oil  around  the  outside.  It 
was  very  good,  but  it  was  only  a  taste,  and 
it  made  him  hungrier  than  ever. 
97 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

"I  just  believe  I  am  going  to  have  that 
meat!"  he  said  to  himself.  He  was  about 
to  put  his  paw  on  the  little  snow  shingle 
that  was  so  thin  and  would  break  so  easily, 
when  he  heard  a  great,  gruff  voice  right 
behind  him. 

"  Here !  What  you  doing  there  ?  "  Little 
White  Fox  just  tumbled  a  back  somersault 
away  from  the  little  house  and  ran  as  fast 
as  ever  he  could,  for  there,  right  behind  him, 
was  Big  White  Bear!  It's  one  thing  to  be 
looking  for  some  one  very  much  larger  than 
yourself,  but  quite  another  thing  for  that 
big  person  to  be  looking  at  you.  Little 
White  Fox  didn't  take  any  chances.  But 
when  he  was  a  long  distance  away,  and  Big 
White  Bear  wasn't  following  him,  he  turned 
around  to  see  what  would  happen  to  the 


BIG    WHITE    BEAR    FINDS    LITTLE    WHITE    FOX 

little  house.  He  wished  Big  White  Bear 
would  go  away,  so  he  could  get  all  that 
delicious  meat. 

But  Big  White  Bear  did  not  go  away.  He 
bent  his  long  neck  and  put  his  great  nose 
right  up  to  the  little  house  and  gave  a  great 
"Woof!"  The  little  house  was  far  too 
small  for  Big  White  Bear  to  enter,  so  he 
put  out  one  of  his  ponderous,  powerful  paws 
and  sent  the  little  house  flying  every  way. 
But  his  ponderous,  powerful  paw  went  too 
deep.  It  touched  the  thin  shingle,  and 
Snap !  the  trap  came  down  on  Big  White 
Bear's  paw.  Came  down  hard  too! 
Ow-e-e-e !  How  it  did  hurt !  How  Big 
White  Bear  roared !  One  might  have 
thought  he  was  being  killed !  He  ran  limp- 
ing to  the  ocean,  dragging  the  little  fox 
99 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

trap  after  him.  When  he  got  there,  he 
stuck  his  paw  up  in  the  air,  and  moved  it 
round  and  round,  round  and  round,  till 
the  chain  on  the  trap  went  Ziz !  Ziz !  Ziz ! 
just  like  that.  All  of  a  sudden  the  trap 
came  loose  and  tumbled  into  the  sea,  and  I 
think  Steadfast  Starfish's  children  are  play- 
ing with  it  still. 

Little  White  Fox  ran  straight  home  to 
tell  his  mother  how  he  had  found  Big  White 
Bear  and  all  the  things  that  had  happened. 

"Well,"  said  his  mother,  "I  think  Big 
White  Bear  has  found  you,  and  I  am  sure 
it  is  a  good  thing  he  did!"  Then  she  sat 
down  and  told  Little  White  Fox  all  about 
the  dangers  of  nice  smelling  meat  and  the 
little  houses  that  Omnok  builds. 


100 


CHAPTER  XV 
LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  GOES  FISHING 

LITTLE  WHITE  Fox  was  hungry  again. 
It  would  seem  that  a  little  white  fox  is  hungry 
most  of  the  time.  He  went  wandering  all 
over  the  tundra,  looking  for  something  to 
eat.  At  last  he  came  to  the  bank  of  the 
river.  He  was  sniffing  about  there  when  he 
spied  a  door  right  in  the  ground  near  the 
ice  roof  of  the  river.  "Hello!"  said  he, 
stopping  short,  "I  wonder  who  made  that 
door  in  there."  He  looked  into  the  door 
but  could  see  no  one.  It  was  too  dark. 
He  shouted  into  the  door,  but  no  one  an- 
101 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

swered.  He  crept  part  way  down  the  stair- 
way. Then  he  stopped  and  listened.  He 
heard  nothing,  so  he  ventured  on,  and  al- 
most before  he  knew  it,  he  found  himself 
in  one  of  the  biggest  caves  he  had  ever 
seen.  It  was  as  wide  as  half  the  river  and 
as  long  as  he  could  see  in  each  direction. 
It  had  an  ice  roof  and  a  good  solid  floor. 
Only  the  floor  stopped  pretty  soon,  and 
then  there  was  water. 

"I  don't  believe  anybody  in  the  world 
could  build  a  house  like  this!"  said  Little 
White  Fox.  "  I  guess  it  just  happened  to  be 
here,  and  some  one  has  discovered  it.  I 
wonder  who  it  could  be?" 

He  walked  down  close  to  where  the  water 
was,  and  there  he  found  tracks.  Oh !  hun- 
dreds and  hundreds  of  them !  But  he  could 
102f 


LITTLE   WHITE  FOX  GOES  FISHING 

not  tell  whose  tracks  they  were.  He  had 
never  seen  such  tracks  before. 

"Anyway,  I  believe  there  is  something 
good  to  eat  in  that  water,"  he  said  to  him- 
self. "  If  there  wasn't,  that  fellow  wouldn't 
come  down  here  and  stand  around  so  much. 
It  is  nice  and  warm  down  here  out  of  the 
wind,  and  I  guess  I'll  stand  around  a  little 
myself  and  see  what  will  happen." 

Meanwhile,  down  below  in  the  river, 
two  of  the  little  river  people  were  having  a 
talk  all  by  themselves.  They  were  Unfor- 
tunate Flounder  and  Mr.  Salmon  Trout. 
Salmon  Trout  is  a  very  graceful  fellow  who 
always  holds  himself  erect  in  the  water. 
When  he  swims,  he  goes  so  swiftly  that  you 
can  hardly  see  him.  But  Unfortunate  Floun- 
der goes  floating  around  on  one  side  all  the 
103 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

time,  and  looks  more  like  a  dead  leaf  than 
any  member  of  the  fish  family. 

"Why  do  you  not  stand  straight  up  in  the 
water  as  I  do?"  said  Salmon  Trout. 

"Well,"  said  Unfortunate  Flounder,  "it's 
only  a  little  my  fault.  Can't  you  see  that 
my  eyes  are  on  one  of  my  flat  sides  and  my 
stomach  on  the  other?  It  wouldn't  be 
very  pleasant  to  go  about  looking  one  way 
and  going  another,  would  it?  When  I  was 
going  south^  I'd  be  looking  west ;  don't  you 
see?" 

"How  does  it  happen  that  you  are  that 
way?" 

"I  was  born  that  way.  All  my  children 
are  the  same,  and  so  were  my  parents  before 
me.  You  see,  it's  really  a  matter  of  ances- 
try. Way  back  somewhere,  one  of  my 
104 


LITTLE   WHITE   FOX   GOES   FISHING 

great  grandparents  found  out  it  was  easier 
to  lop  around  sidewise  in  the  water  than 
to  stand  straight  up  as  you  do,  so  he  lopped 
around  all  his  life  long.  His  son  followed 
his  example  and  lopped  around  a  little  worse. 
So  it  went  on,  until  to-day  we  could  not 
straighten  up  if  we  were  to  try.  At  least, 
it  would  take  whole  generations  before  we 
could  balance  ourselves  as  well  as  you  do. 
As  for  me,  I  don't  see  as  it  matters  much, 
for,  after  all,  I  quite  agree  with  my  great 
grandfather  that  it  is  best  to  be  comfort- 
able, even  if  it  does  make  you  ugly,  ungrace- 
ful, and  slow." 

But    just    then    Unfortunate    Flounder 

learned  what  an  unhappy  thing  it  was  to 

be  slow.    Little  White  Fox  from  his  station 

on  the  bank  had  been  watching,  watching 

105 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

very  sharply  two  dark  spots  that  had 
appeared  in  the  water.  He  had  watched 
them  come  closer  and  closer.  At  last  he 
thought  he  could  reach  out  and  grab  one 
of  them  without  getting  in  the  water. 

"Look  out!"  cried  Salmon  Trout,  as  he 
glided  swiftly  away.  But  poor  Unfortunate 
Flounder  was  too  slow,  and  he  felt  Little 
White  Fox's  sharp  teeth  close  down  on  him. 

Just  then  something  happened.  "Here! 
what  are  you  doing  in  my  fishing  house?" 
demanded  an  angry  voice.  It  frightened 
Little  White  Fox  so  badly  that  he  dropped 
Unfortunate  Flounder  back  into  the  river 
and  looked  around. 

It  was  Mr.  Golden  Marten,  and  this  was 
his  fishing  house.  At  least,  he  called  it  his, 
for  he  had  made  the  stairway  down  to  it. 
106 


\ 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  GOES  FISHING 

It  took  Little  White  Fox  only  a  moment 
to  discover  that  while  Golden  Marten  was 
not  quite  as  large  as  he  was,  his  teeth  were 
very  sharp.  The  door  to  the  stairway  was 
quite  close  to  him,  and  before  Golden  Mar- 
ten could  stop  him  Little  White  Fox  was  out 
of  the  door  and  racing  for  home  as  fast  as 
his  little  legs  could  carry  him. 

"All  the  same,"  he  said  to  his  mother 
that  night,  after  he  had  told  her  of  the  cave, 
"when  I  am  as  old  as  you  are,  I  am  going  to 
have  a  fish  house  all  my  own !" 


107 


CHAPTER  XVI 


ONE  day  Little  White  Fox  was  out  in 
front  of  his  house  sunning  himself.  He  and 
his  mother  were  living  off  the  bounty  of 
Big  White  Bear  these  days,  so  there  was 
nothing  to  worry  about.  He  just  stretched 
himself  out  there  on  the  white  snow  and 
looked  away  at  the  wide,  white  world,  as 
contented  as  could  be.  But  all  at  once  he 
saw  a  strange,  strange  thing.  Out  on  the 
roof  of  the  silent  sea,  Little  Brown  Seal 
was  sunning  himself  too,  right  close  to  the 
door  of  his  home.  He  was  taking  little 
108 


LITTLE  BROWN  SEAL'S  NARROW  ESCAPE 

"cat"  naps.  You  see,  Little  Brown  Seal 
could  not  sleep  down  in  his  house  in  the 
ocean.  It  was  far  too  damp  down  there. 
So  he  was  lying  there  by  his  door,  sleeping 
just  two  or  three  minutes  at  a  time,  then 
looking  up  to  see  if  there  was  any  danger 
near. 

Now  that  wasn't  such  a  strange  thing. 
Little  White  Fox  had  seen  Little  Brown 
Seal  do  that  nearly  every  day,  but  the 
strange  thing  was  that  there  was  some  one 
else  out  on  the  ice  who  seemed  to  be  doing 
the  very  same  thing  that  Little  Brown 
Seal  was  doing,  —  taking  "cat"  naps.  And 
stranger  still,  he  did  not  seem  to  be  one 
of  Little  Brown  Seal's  relatives !  He  was 
too  long,  and  he  didn't  wiggle  his  body 
right ! 

109  * 

\ 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

Little  White  Fox  could  see  all  that,  but 
Little  Brown  Seal  was  so  low  down  on  the 
ice  that  all  he  could  see  was  the  stranger's 
head.  He  might  have  known  even  then 
that  it  was  not  one  of  his  cousins,  if  he  had 
had  as  sharp  eyes  as  Little  White  Fox.  But 
he  didn't,  for  his  eyes  were  very  poor.  So 
Little  Brown  Seal  thought  it  was  one  of 
his  own  cousins  taking  a  nap  now  and  then, 
just  as  he  was.  Once  it  looked  to  Little 
White  Fox  as  if  he  were  beginning  to  under- 
stand that  the  stranger  was  not  one  of  his 
cousins,  for  he  stayed  awake  a  long,  long 
time  and  looked  and  looked  and  looked. 
The  stranger  seemed  to  be  sleeping  a  long 
time,  and  that  made  Little  Brown  Seal 
suspicious.  But  just  then  the  stranger 
bobbed  his  head  and  looked  all  around  this 
110 


LITTLE  BROWN  SEAL'S  NARROW  ESCAPE 

way  and  that  way,  just  as  any  real,  wise 
seal  would  do,  and  Little  Brown  Seal  decided 
it  was  all  right,  that  this  stranger  was  one 
of  his  really  truly  cousins. 

And  who  do  you  think  the  stranger,  who 
acted  so  very  much  like  a  seal,  was?  It 
was  Omnok,  the  hunter,  with  his  terrible 
gun  sliding  right  along  beside  him !  He 
had  learned  how  Little  Brown  Seal  took  his 
"cat"  naps,  and  he  was  going  to  slip  right 
up  to  him  and  kill  him.  He  kept  creeping 
up  closer,  closer,  closer.  But  Little  Brown 
Seal  had  made  up  his  mind  that  it  was  one 
of  his  cousins,  and  so  he  didn't  ask  himself 
any  more  questions  about  it.  He  just  kept 
on  taking  his  little  "cat"  naps  and  waking 
up  to  look  all  around,  this  way  and  that 
way,  but  never  paying  any  attention  to 
111 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

this  stranger  who  was  coming  nearer  all 
the  time. 

"My,"  Little  White  Fox  thought  to  him- 
self, "he  will  surely  be  killed.  Yes,  sir! 
I  am  very,  very  sure  Little  Brown  Seal  is 
going  to  be  killed!" 

But  just  when  Omnok  was  getting  very 
close,  and  just  before  he  was  going  to  raise 
his  terrible  gun  and  kill  Little  Brown  Seal, 
a  strange  thing  happened.  I  don't  know 
how  it  happened.  Perhaps  Little  White 
Fox  was  sorry  the  sun  was  going  down  so 
soon  that  day,  or  perhaps  he  was  lonesome 
for  his  mother.  Perhaps  he  was  sorry  for 
Little  Brown  Seal,  because  he  was  going 
to  get  killed  in  just  another  minute;  but 
whatever  it  was,  Little  White  Fox  began  to 
feel  bad  all  at  once.  He  wanted  to  cry, 
112 


LITTLE   BKOWN   SEAL'S   NARROW   ESCAPE 

and  he  did  cry!  He  lifted  his  pink  little 
nose  into  the  air  and  cried  "Ah!  Ah!  Ah! 
Yak!  Yak!  Yak!" 

Now  Little  Brown  Seal  may  not  have 
very  good  eyes,  but  he  has  very  good  ears, 
and  he  had  just  wakened  from  a  "cat" 
nap  when  he  heard  that  lonesome  wail 
from  Little  White  Fox.  And  he  didn't 
wait  one  minute,  nor  one  second !  He 
tumbled  down  into  his  house  in  the  ocean 
as  quick  as  a  wink,  just  as  Omnok  the 
hunter  was  getting  ready  to  shoot  him ! 

Perhaps  you  think  Omnok  wasn't  angry ! 
But  he  had  heard  Little  White  Fox  cry.  He 
would  get  Little  White  Fox's  coat.  Then 
he  would  be  even.  But  Little  White  Fox 
was  nowhere  about  when  Omnok  climbed 
the  hill.  No,  you  may  be  sure  he  wasn't ! 
113 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

He  was  way  under  the  great  rock  in  his  own 
little  home,  where  Omnok  couldn't  get  near 
him.  So  all  Omnok  could  do  was  to  put  his 
terrible  gun  over  his  shoulder  and  go  back 
home. 


114 


CHAPTER  XVII 
A  STRANGE  JOURNEY 

LITTLE  WHITE  Fox  went  on  a  strange 
journey  one  day,  and  when  he  arrived  at  its 
end,  he  didn't  know  where  he  was!  You 
see,  he  had  been  living  for  a  long  time  with 
his  mother  off  the  bounty  of  Big  White 
Bear.  Now  the  snow  had  almost  all  gone 
from  the  mountains  and  the  tundra.  Little 
Mrs.  White  Fox  had  gone  over  to  the  land 
and  told  Little  White  Fox  to  watch  sharp 
and  see  if  Big  White  Bear  came  up  out  of 
his  kitchen  and  left  anything  for  them  to 
eat.  She  was  going  over  to  see  if  she 
115 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

could  find  any  perfectly  good  blueberries 
which  had  been  hidden  all  winter  under 
the  snow. 

Little  White  Fox  loitered  about  on  the 
roof  to  the  ocean  and  dreamed,  as  little  folks 
will  in  the  springtime.  The  weather  was 
fine,  and  the  sun  was  shining  now,  all  day 
and  all  night.  A  great  deal  of  the  roof  to 
the  ocean  had  floated  mysteriously  away, 
one  night,  but  there  was  a  great  deal  of  it 
left,  and  Little  White  Fox  felt  very  safe. 
But  all  of  a  sudden,  Scratch !  Scratch !  he 
heard  Big  White  Bear  come  up  out  of  his 
kitchen.  Then  he  knew  that  there  was 
going  to  be  a  feast,  just  as  there  had  been  so 
many  times  before.  He  waited  and  waited 
until  Swish,  Swish  he  heard  Big  White  Bear 
tumble  back  into  the  water  and  swim  away. 
116 


A  STRANGE  JOURNEY 


Then  such  a  feast  as  he  did  have !  Well, 
Little  White  Fox  ate  so  much  and  the  sun 
shone  so  brightly,  that  he  began  to  feel 
very,  very  sleepy,  and  almost  before  he 
knew  anything  about  it,  he  was  curled  up 
on  the  roof  to  the  ocean  fast  asleep,  dream- 
ing as  hard  as  ever  a  white  fox  dreamed. 

I  don't  know  how  long  Little  White  Fox 
slept;  hours  and  hours  I  imagine.  But 
when  he  awoke  and  looked  about  him,  all 
he  could  see  was  the  dark,  deep  ocean  every- 
where. He  jumped  to  his  feet  and  peered 
this  side  of  him  and  that  side,  but  it  was  all 
the  same  dark,  deep  water.  There  was 
nothing  but  ocean  everywhere.  The  big 
waves  had  come  along  and  carried  off  the 
part  of  the  roof  to  the  ocean  that  Little 
White  Fox  was  sleeping  on ! 
117 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

What  was  Little  White  Fox  to  do?  He 
could  not  swim  very  far,  and  it  was  a  long 
way  to  land;  in  fact,  he  could  not  see  any 
land  at  all.  Besides,  the  water  was  very, 
very  cold.  He  couldn't  think  of  a  thing 
to  do.  He  just  curled  up  hi  a  heap  and 
shivered  and  shivered  and  shivered,  he  was 
so  lonesome  and  frightened. 

"Hello !"  shouted  Tusks  the  Walrus,  stick- 
ing his  head  out  of  the  water.  He  looked 
and  looked.  "That's  strange,"  he  said  to 
himself.  "I  thought  I  saw  Little  White  Fox 
over  here  on  a  piece  of  the  ocean's  roof. 
Guess  not,  though.  I  don't  see  him  now." 
And  away  he  swam  for  a  frolic  with  one  of 
his  cousins. 

"Hello!"  cried  Little  Brown  Seal,  turn- 
ing a  somersault  in  the  water.  When  he 
118 


Big   White   Bear   popped   right   up   out  of  the 
ocean!      Page  119 


A   STRANGE   JOURNEY 


turned  the  somersault,  he  looked  at  the 
piece  of  the  ocean's  roof.  "My!  My!" 
he  sighed.  "These  eyes  of  mine  must  be 
getting  very  bad  indeed !  I  thought  I  saw 
Little  White  Fox  on  that  piece  of  roof." 
And  he  too  went  paddling  away  to  play. 

And  all  the  time  Little  White  Fox  was 
hiding  his  nose  in  a  little  snow  bank,  and 
closing  his  pink  eyes  because  he  was  so  very 
much  afraid  of  every  one,  even  his  best 
friends,  out  here  on  the  silent,  lonesome  sea. 
Very  soon  he  was  nearly  frightened  to  death. 
Big  White  Bear  popped  right  up  out  of  the 
ocean !  He  climbed  up  on  one  end  of  the 
piece  of  roof  and  tipped  it  up  so  Little  White 
Fox  thought  he  would  surely  be  tipped  into 
the  sea.  But  he  dug  in  his  toes  and  hid 
his  nose,  and  closed  his  eyes  very  tight. 
119 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  AECTIC  FRIENDS 

Pretty  soon  Big  White  Bear  thought  of 
something  he  wanted  to  do  and  tumbled 
back  into  the  sea. 

Little  White  Fox  floated  on  and  on,  for 
hours  and  hours  and  hours,  over  the  silent 
sea.  But  by  and  by  when  he  was  very, 
very  hungry  and  very  sure  that  he  would 
never  see  his  dear  home  and  his  dear  mother 
again,  there  came  a  dreadful  storm.  Little 
White  Fox  had  to  dig  his  toe  nails  in 
tight,  again,  and  once  the  piece  of  the  roof 
broke  right  in  two  and  nearly  threw  him 
into  the  sea!  But  finally  he  felt  a  bump. 
His  piece  of  roof  had  struck  something  hard. 
Bump !  Bump !  He  nearly  stood  on  his 
head,  and  in  a  minute  the  piece  of  roof 
was  perfectly  still.  Little  White  Fox  looked 
up,  and  right  by  the  piece  of  roof  was  the 
120 


A   STRANGE   JOURNEY 


finest  sandy  beach  you  ever  saw.  He  gave 
one  big  run  and  jumped  on  the  beach,  and 
scampered  away,  as  fast  as  ever  he  could, 
just  before  a  big  wave  came  and  carried  the 
piece  of  roof  back  to  sea. 

It  wasn't  any  time  at  all  until  he  was  up 
on  the  edge  of  the  finest  hill,  eating  the 
richest,  juciest  blueberries  that  had  ever 
been  kept  under  a  snow  bank  all  the  long 
whiter  through.  And  pretty  soon  he  was 
all  dry,  and  feeling  fine  and  not  hungry  at 

an. 

"But  where  in  the  world  am  I?"  thought 
Little  White  Fox,  scratching  his  head. 
"I'll  have  to  see  if  I  can  find  some  of  my 
friends  who  can  tell  me  how  to  go  home. 
It  must  be  a  long,  long  way." 


121 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  COMES  HOME 

WHEN  Little  White  Fox  looked  all  around 
him  very  carefully,  this  way  and  that,  and 
didn't  see  a  thing  he  had  ever  seen  before 
and  not  a  person  who  knew  him  in  all  this 
new  tundra  and  all  these  new  hills,  he  felt 
very  blue,  you  may  be  sure.  But  he  didn't 
cry  about  it.  He  was  too  happy  at  being 
off  that  bit  of  roof  to  the  great  ocean  for 
that.  So  he  looked  as  far  as  he  could  see  in 
every  direction,  and  at  last  he  spied  some 
little  lakes  way  down  on  the  tundra.  "Ill 
just  go  over  there  and  see  if  there  is  any 
122 


LITTLE    WHITE    FOX   COMES   HOME 

one  I  know,"  he  said  to  himself,  and  went 
trotting  away  as  fast  as  ever  he  could.  He 
came  right  down  by  the  lakes  and  at  last 
he  saw  some  one  he  had  met  in  his  own  home 
land.  It  was  Mr.  Widgeon  Junior,  a  son  of 
Old  Mrs.  Widgeon  Duck,  who  was  killed  by 
Omnok  the  hunter. 

"Hello,"  said  Little  White  Fox. 

i' 

Widgeon  Junior  looked  up  quick,  in  a 
frightened  sort  of  way,  but  he  never  said  a 
word.  He  just  stretched  out  his  long  neck 
and  flapped  his  strong  wings  and  began 
to  fly.  And  all  the  tune  he  pointed  with 
his  bill  straight  ahead  and  with  his  feet 
straight  behind,  as  if  to  say,  "Follow  me; 
this  is  the  way  home." 

"I  just  believe  that  is  the  way  home!" 
said  Little  White  Fox.  "His  mother  had 
123 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

her  nest  right  down  on  our  tundra  last 
summer,  and  I  believe  he  is  going  there 
right  now !"  So  he  picked  up  his  feet  lively 
and  ran  along  behind  Widgeon  Junior  but 
he  couldn't  near  keep  up !  It  wasn't  any 
time  at  all  before  he  was  so  far  behind  that  he 
couldn't  see  Widgeon  Junior  at  all !  And 
before  long  he  was  just  as  badly  lost  as 
before.  But  he  trotted  on  cheerfully,  "For," 
he  said  to  himself,  "I'll  see  some  one  else 
I  know  very  soon." 

And  sure  enough,  all  of  a  sudden  there 
was  a  clap,  clap  of  wings,  and  some  one  that 
looked  just  like  Who-Who,  the  big  white 
owl,  went  soaring  over  his  head.  But  when 
Little  White  Fox  shouted  "Hello"  in  his 
very  best  voice,  the  great  white  owl  never 
answered  a  word,  but  went  napping  on  till 
124 


LITTLE    WHITE    FOX   COMES    HOME 

he  lit  on  the  top  of  a  whalebone  which  one 
of  Omnok's  relatives  had  put  up  to  mark 
a  grave. 

"Well,"  said  Little  White  Fox  to  himself, 
"I  guess  that  isn't  Who-Who,  but  anyway, 
it  is  one  of  his  cousins,  and  he  is  very  wise. 
All  the  Owl  folks  are.  He  will  tell  me  the 
way  home." 

So  he  hurried  over  to  the  foot  of  the  whale- 
bone and  said,  "Please,  Mr.  White  Owl, 
won't  you  tell  me  the  way  home?" 

The  big  white  owl  never  answered  a  word, 
but  he  winked  his  eye  very  cunningly,  as 
much  as  to  say,  "'Look,  I'll  show  you." 
Then  he  flapped  his  great,  white  wings,  and 
away  he  flew,  and  away  after  him,  as  fast 
as  ever  he  could  trot,  came  Little  White 
Fox,  never  once  looking  this  way  or  that 
125 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

to  see  where  he  was  going,  so  proud  was  he 
to  be  able  almost  to  keep  up  with  this  new 
friend.  He  ran  and  ran  and  ran  until  he 
was  out  of  breath,  when  he  saw  the  big, 
white  owl  spread  his  wings  out  straight  and 
light  on  a  whalebone  sticking  right  out  of 
the  ground  and  looking  for  all  the  world 
like  the  one  he  had  flown  away  from  just 
a  little  while  before.  Little  White  Fox 
ran  up  to  the  whalebone  and  looked  up  at 
the  big  white  owl. 

The  big  white  owl  closed  one  eye  and 
winked  very  knowingly  as  if  to  say,  "Am 
I  not  a  very  wise  old  owl?" 

Little  White  Fox  looked  all  around  at 

the  tundra  and  the  hills,  and  sure  enough, 

that  was  the  very  same  whalebone,  sticking 

up  out  of  the  ground !    The  big  white  owl 

126 


LITTLE    WHITE   FOX   COMES   HOME 

had  led  him  a  long  way,  all  around  in  a 
circle!  You  may  be  sure  Little  White 
Fox  was  disgusted.  He  would  never  ask 
another  thing  of  a  big  white  owl  again,  if  he 
lived  a  thousand  years!  But  away  he 
trotted  toward  some  other  little  ponds  he 
had  seen  some  time  before. 

He  was  slipping  along  as  quietly  as  he 
could  in  the  grass  when  he  heard  a  splash, 
splash  in  the  water,  and  there  was  Mrs. 
Swan.  Of  all  the  people  in  all  the  world, 
besides  his  own  dear  mother,  Little  White 
Fox  liked  Mrs.  Swan  best!  Her  white 
gown  was  always  so  smooth  and  tidy,  her 
neck  so  graceful,  and  she  seemed  so  kind, 
that  Little  White  Fox  thought  she  was 
just  the  most  perfect  lady  that  ever  was! 
To  be  sure  he  had  been  tempted  once  to 
127 


LITTLE  WHITE  FOX  AND  HIS  ARCTIC  FRIENDS 

steal  one  of  the  big  eggs  out  of  her  great 
nest,  on  the  beach  the  summer  before,  but 
he  hadn't  done  it,  and  now,  you  may  be  very 
sure,  he  was  glad  he  hadn't,  for  perhaps 
she  would  tell  him  the  way  home. 

"Please,  Mrs.  Swan,"  he  said,  making 
a  very  graceful  bow,  "will  you  tell  me  the 
way  home  ?  "  Mrs.  Swan  looked  at  him  very- 
kindly  but  never  said  a  word.  Very  soon  she 
flapped  her  great,  white  wings,  and  putting 
her  bill  right  out  before  her  and  her  feet 
straight  behind,  out  she  went  flapping  away  to 
the  northward.  Then  Little  White  Fox  knew 
that  was  the  way  home,  for  she  was  going 
back  to  his  own  dear  beach  to  make  a  new  nest 
and  to  hatch  out  some  more  little  Swanfolks. 

I  wish  I  had  time  to  tell  you  of  all  the 
adventures  that  befell  Little  White  Fox 
128 


She   was   going    back    to    his    own    dear    beach. 
Page  128 


LITTLE    WHITE    FOX    COMES   HOME 

on  his  way  home,  but  I  haven't.  Perhaps 
some  other  time  we  will  hear  all  about  that. 
But  one  day,  when  the  sun  was  shining 
brightly  and  the  flowers  were  beginning  to 
bloom,  who  should  little  Mrs.  White  Fox 
see  come  trotting  up  the  path  by  the  big 
rock  but  her  own  long-lost  son,  Little  White 
Fox.  And  you  may  well  believe  that  she 
was  glad  to  see  him !  She  had  thought  she 
would  never  see  him  again.  And  the  things 
he  had  to  tell  her !  How  she  did  listen,  and 
how  the  other  little  Foxes,  Violet  Blue  Fox 
and  Little  Cross  Fox  and  the  Silver  Fox 
twins  and  all  the  rest,  how  they  listened ! 
Oh,  Little  White  Fox  was  quite  a  person 
in  his  family  that  evening!  But  when  he 
had  been  given  a  good  dinner  with  a  piece 
of  blueberry  pie  such  as  only  Little  Mrs. 
129 


White  Fox  can  make,  and  had  curled  him- 
self up  on  the  moss  cot  by  the  side  of  the 
great  rock,  he  went  to  sleep  thinking  that 
after  all  there  was  no  place  in  all  the  world 
like  his  own  home  under  the  big  rock,  and 
no  one  in  all  the  world  quite  so  good  as  his 
own  mother;  and  he  felt  very,  very  sure 
that  he  would  be  careful  in  the  future  and 
not  let  anything  carry  him  away  from  her. 


130 


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